The FReeper Foxhole Profiles General George Rogers Clark - Dec. 13th, 2004

www.statelib.lib.in.us ^

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
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for all those serving their country at this time.

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General George Rogers Clark
(1752-1818)

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George Rogers Clark was the second son of John and Ann Rogers Clark. Both families were Virginia landholders, and after their marriage they moved to a 400 acre farm left to Clark by his father, Jonathan. This land was located on the Rivanna River, two miles east of Charlottesville and two and one-half miles northwest of Shadwell, where Thomas Jefferson was born. Their first son, Jonathan, was born in 1750, and their second son, George, in 1752.

In 1757 the Clarks sold their land and moved to a small plantation in the southwest corner of Caroline County, VA, which had been left to them by an uncle, John Clark.

George's boyhood was probably typical of rural Virginia at the time. He would have learned to plant, trap, hunt, ride and wrestle. He probably received most of his schooling at home from relatives. From his later journals, we learn that he almost invariably bought some books when he returned to Williamsburg, so he must have been well-read, and his writing is well above average for the period.

Although the facts are not proven by records of the school, some historians contend that when George was 11, he and Jonathan were sent to live with their grandfather, John Rogers, in order to attend a private school on the Mattapony River run by Donald Robertson, and that George was sent home after six or eight months. (Others known to have been enrolled at the time were James Madison and John Tyler.) If these tales are true, this schooling was probably the only formal education Clark received.


George Rogers Clark, an oil painting on canvas by Rosemary Brown Beck, painted in 1976 for a bicentennial exhibit in honor of Clark's victory.

In 1770, when George was 18 his youngest brother, William, was born. This brother would later win fame as a leader of the Lewis and Clark expedition. The family consisted of six sons and four daughters and was closely knit, maintaining affectionate ties throughout their lives. At about this time, George learned surveying from his grandfather.

Despite the British rules and laws against settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains, many young men in Virginia were crossing over to Kentucky in quest of land and adventure. In 1772, just turning 20 years of age, Clark left on a surveying trip to the West. During the next four years, he located land for himself, his family and other friends in Virginia and acted as a guide for settlers. He participated in Lord Dunmore's War and gained recognition as a formidable Indian fighter.

Increased Indian harassment of the Kentucky settlers led Clark to call a meeting of representatives from all the forts at Harrodsburg, KY in June 1776. He and another delegate were elected to go to Virginia to seek a more definite connection between Kentucky and Virginia. They wanted recognition and protection as a county, and failing this, Clark advocated a separate state. Gov. Patrick Henry and the Executive Council granted him 500 pounds of gunpowder for the defense of Kentucky, and the General Assembly made Kentucky a county of Virginia.



The fact that the Kentucky settlers entrusted Clark with such great responsibility at the age of 24, and that he was sufficiently persuasive to bring the General Assembly and a number of important men around to his way of thinking was indicative of his personal charisma, speaking abilities, leadership and qualities of mind. He was well over six feet tall, had red hair and was reliably reported to have been rugged and handsome. The fear and respect which he inspired in his Indian enemies indicated that he was a formidable warrior. Contemporary records show that he enjoyed an unusual rapport with his men, inspiring them to believe that they were unbeatable and firing them with an eagerness for battle. Even after he had lost favor in the East, he was still the leader of choice on the frontier among the men who knew his abilities best. He was also a leader in setting up the forms of government on the frontier, and whenever possible he used diplomacy and bluff rather than battle in dealing with the Indians. When he retired to Clarksville in later life, the Indian chiefs and warriors still came to smoke the pipe of peace and friendship with their conqueror, calling him "the first man living, the great and invincible long-knife."

In the year of the "Bloody '77s" Clark returned the gunpowder to Kentucky settlements. The settlements were attacked continually and had difficulty planting or harvesting crops to sustain them through the coming winter. Clark learned that the "hair buyer" Lt. Gov. Henry Hamilton was paying the Indians for prisoners and scalps in Detroit and supplying them from posts in the Illinois country. After receiving reports from two spies he had sent to the Illinois country, Clark returned to Virginia to outline a plan of attack to Governor Henry. He received authority from the General Assembly to raise a force for the defense of Kentucky and a commission as Lieutenant Colonel over a force of seven companies with 50 men each. Secretly, Henry gave him written orders to attack Kaskaskia and posts in the Illinois Country.


Govenor Hamilton Inciting the Indians

With battles raging in the East, Clark had difficulty raising the authorized force and finally set out from Redstone and Fort Pitt with only 150 frontiersmen and some 20 settlers and their families. Reaching the Falls of Ohio, they established a supply base on Corn Island and were joined by a handful of reinforcements from the Holston River settlements. Clark revealed his plan to attack Kaskaskia and was hard-pressed to prevent desertions.

On June 26, 1778, 175 men left for Kaskaskia. They "shot the falls" during a total eclipse of the sun and concluded that this was a good omen for the campaign (perhaps at Clark's suggestion?). With oars double-manned they avoided detection and reached the mouth of the Tennessee River where they hid the boats and marched overland for six days. They were dressed in Indian fashion and proceeded single-file in order to leave fewer tracks to reveal their presence.


Clark Occupies Corn Island

They surprised Kaskaskia on the night of July 4, occupying the fort and the town without a shot being fired. Clark offered the French inhabitants "all of the privileges of American citizenship" in return for their oath of allegiance of safe conduct out of the area. This offer and the news of the recent French-American alliance won their support. Captain Bowman was then dispatched to Cahokia, Prairie du Rocher and St. Phillip. These communities also accepted Clark's terms without resistance.

Kaskaskia's priest, Father Gibault, went to Vincennes and secured the allegiance of the French there to Clark, and Captain Helm was sent to take command of Fort Sackville. Meanwhile, at Kaskaskia, Clark used August and September to gather Indian tribes from as far as 500 miles away. He offered them the red belt of war or the white belt of peace, and by his understanding of the Indian concept of manhood and some skillfully applied "bluff" he succeeded in winning their neutrality during the coming campaign.

Learning of Clark's occupation of Kaskaskia, Hamilton gathered his forces and traveled down the Maumee and Wabash Rivers from Detroit, reaching Vincennes on December 17. Helm was forced to surrender. Hamilton made an ill-fated decision to postpone an attack on Kaskaskia until spring and used the time to strengthen the fortifications at Sackville. He sent his Indian allies home for the winter. A Spanish trader, Francis Vigo, was permitted to leave Vincennes for St. Louis, and he promptly reported Hamilton's plans to Clark.


Clark reassures French at Kaskaskia

Clark realized that his small force could not hold the Illinois posts if Hamilton was given sufficient time to gather his forces, and he boldly decided to move on Vincennes immediately during "the depth of winter." He wrote to Patrick Henry, saying that if he failed "this country and also Kentucky is lost."

On February 6, 1779, Clark outfitted and supplied the armed galley "Willing," which was to rendezvous with the rest of the force on the Wabash down river from Vincennes. Mounted on a handsome horse, Clark led 172 men, nearly half of which were French volunteers, from Kaskaskia. They marched the 240 miles through flooded country, often shoulder high in water, sending out hunting parties for food and sleeping on the bare ground. It required 17 days to make what was normally a five or six day trip. Clark kept the spirits of the men high, encouraging them to sing, and regaling them with the actions of "an antic drummer boy who floated by on his drum."

On February 23, they surprised Vincennes. Clark ordered that all of the company's flags be marched back and forth behind a slight rise to convince the British that there were 600 men rather than under 200. They opened fire on the fort with such accuracy that the British were prevented from opening their gunports. On the morning of the third day, February 25, Hamilton surrendered and was sent to Williamsburg as a prisoner. The British never regained control of these posts, and the American claims in the old Northwest served as the basis of the cession of these lands to the United States at the Treaty of Paris in 1783. The British withdrew from Detroit, and the Great Lakes became the northern boundary of the United States.


Clark Defending a Stockade

Clark continued to lead military actions in the Northwest until the end of the War in 1783, and in 1784 he was named as a principal surveyor of public lands set aside for the men who served in the Virginia state military forces. Much of the time until 1813 he acted as chairman of the Board of Commissioners, which supervised the allotment of lands in the Illinois grant and promoted improvements. He was consulted on the subject of Indian affairs all along the Ohio.

Clark had assumed personal responsibility for many expenses incurred in his campaigns and was never able to obtain full repayment from Virginia or the United States Congress. He was hounded by creditors for the remainder of his life and finally held in his own name only the land he retired to in Clarksville, IN in 1803. He built a two-room cabin on a beautiful point of land overlooking the Falls of the Ohio, where he lived with two servants, operating a grist mill in the town. He corresponded frequently with Jefferson and over the years sent him many specimens of his private museum from this area. In 1809 he suffered a stroke which necessitated the amputation of his right leg. This was performed without anesthetic, and at Clark's request two fifers and two drummers played outside for two hours during the operation.

He lived thereafter at Locust Grove, eight miles from Louisville, KY, with his sister Lucy and her husband, Maj. William Croghan, until he suffered a third stroke and died at the age of 66 on February 13, 1818. His body was moved from the family plot to Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville in 1869.



In his funeral oration, Judge John Rowan said, "The mighty oak of the forest has fallen, and now the scrub oaks may sprout all around .... The father of the western country is no more."

The nation's failure to reward Clark for his remarkable accomplishments in an adequate manner was probably due to many factors:

1. An obsession with events in the East and a failure to recognize the magnitude of his achievement, or the importance of the Northwest Territory to the future development of the country.

2. The distance which separated the western country from the seat of power in the East. Whereas Clark was a hero to the people in the West, his accomplishments were unknown to many in the East.

3. The slander committed against him by men who plotted against him in order to gain power in Kentucky.

[SAMWolf]

George Rogers Clark and The Battle of Vincennes
February 23, 1779

King George III's Proclamation of 1763 gave the Indians the land west Appalachian Mountains for their Hunting Grounds. The British used this to their advantage. Colonel Henry Hamilton of the British Army paid the Indians for any colonist scalps. This, of course, encouraged the Indians to attack the white colonists and at the same time protected the British because they did not want to lose the money they were receiving. Colonel Hamilton's nickname was "hair buyer."

Colonel Hamilton was in command of Detroit, but Kaskaskia and Vincennes were two other towns with a lot of British power. In all three towns the British would supply the Indians with arms and ammunition that would be used against the Colonists. George Rogers Clark convinced the Virginia assembly to give him money to put a militia together to capture these three British strongholds.

On June 24, 1778, Clark and 120 men left Redstone, Virginia and arrived at Kaskaskia on July 4th. Without firing a shot, Clark was able to take control of Kaskaskia and all the French Canadians living there pledged allegiance to the Colonies. Clark was able to convince Father Gibault, the French priest of Kaskaskia, to travel to Vincennes and ask the people there to also pledge allegiance to the Colonies. Father Gibault told the residents of Vincennes of the spiritual value in uniting with the Colonists. Somehow, he was able to get all the residents to pledge allegiance to the Colonies and soon an American flag was flying in every home.

Soon Colonel Hamilton in Detroit heard how Kaskaskia had fallen to the Colonists and then how the Vincennes' residents had turned against Britain. He left Detroit in December 1778 with thirty soldiers, fifty French volunteers and four hundred Indians and had taken back control of the Fort.

Clark was in Kaskaskia, Indiana just east of the Mississippi River. It was 240 miles almost directly eastward to reach Vincennes. The winter was cold and Clark knew that the Wabash River would probably be flooded, but in early February Clark and his men set out for Vincennes with forty-six men.

On February 23, 1779 Clark and his group were within three miles of the Fort at Vincennes. They were able to take a British prisoner who told them everything they needed to know. Clark knew he was outnumbered, so he devised a plan to make it seem that there were a lot more men than forty-seven storming the Fort. Vincennes sat on the top of a mountain. He had his men march around in a circle around the fort. The British and the Indians thought there were thousands of soldiers outside. The Indians ran for their safety. That left about 150 British soldiers inside the fort.

Finally, Clark sent in a flag of truce and asked Colonel Hamilton to surrender. Clark would not accept Hamilton's terms, because he thought Hamilton to be a barbarian. To convince Hamilton that surrendering would be his only choice, he took two Indian prisoners and with a tomahawk killed them in front of the Fort. Colonel Hamilton and his men surrendered. One of Clark's French volunteers from Kaskaskia, St. Croix, was put in charge of killing the prisoners sentenced to death. When St. Croix lifted the tomahawk to kill a prisoner, a boy cried out "Save me." St. Croix recognized the voice of his son, who was covered with Indian war paint. George Rogers Clark spared his life.

The Fall of Fort Sackville by Frederick C. Yohn.

George Rogers Clark was a young man, who was more of a frontiersman than a soldier, but he led his small Army to a victory that would prevent the British from ever having control over the Midwest.

[SAMWolf]

After Clark's successful military campaign in the Northwest, he returned to the Falls of the Ohio to live. He built a cabin on the point of land overlooking the foot of the Falls, known as the "Point of Rocks" and later called "Clark's Point". Clark petitioned the Commonwealth of Virginia to use the land he had accepted from the Shawnees to pay the men of his company for their military service.



The land was to become known as the Illinois Land Grant or commonly named Clark's Grant. The area comprised present-day Clark County, Indiana and more. Out of the 150,000 acres, one thousand acres was set aside for the development of the town of Clarksville, Indiana. From 1803 to 1809 George Rogers Clark lived here in his log cabin overlooking the splendid Falls of the Ohio. While Clark's cabin no longer exists, the homesite is part of the Falls of the Ohio State Park. Clark received 8,049 acres of the Clark's Grant as his share of land. Besides his cabin he also built a small grist mill on Mill Creek close to his home. Historians are still debating whether Clark's cabin was a one-story or two-story structure. Whichever, the fact remains that of all the territory Clark traveled in he chose the Falls of the Ohio as the place for his permanent home.



The Illinois Grant was laid out in an irregular fashion as it followed the Ohio River. The original survey was conducted by surveyer William Clark, George Rogers Clark's nephew, and was slightly skewed because of his failure to account for about five degrees from the magnetic variation. An interesting note is that "a dense cane break" existed north of the Clarksville site between Silver Creek and the Ohio River.

The actual grant, dated December 14, 1786, reads as follows: "Know ye, that by the virtue of an act of Assembly passed in the October session, 1783, entitled an act for surveying the lands granted to the Illinois Regement, and establishing a town within the said grant, there is granted by the said Commonwealth unto William Fleming, John Edwards, John Cambell, George Rogers Clark, John Montgomergy, Abraham Chaplain, John Bailey, Robert Todd, William Clark, James Francis Moore, Alexander Breckenridge, Robert Breckenridge, Richard Taylor, Andrew Heth, Richard Terrell, and William Croghan, as a board of commissioners to and for the uses and purposes expressed in the said act a certain parcel of land containing one hundred and forty-nine thousand acres, lying and being on the northwest side of the Ohio River.



Of the 149,000 acres in the Illinois Grant, the land was divided amongst the men according to rank and did not always equal the 300 acres originally promised to the men. Neither were the parcels of land awarded to each man always next to each other which made it impossible to establish a single farm. Brigadier General George Rogers Clark received 8,049 acres; Lieutenant Colonel John Montgomery received 4,851 acres; Majors Joseph Bowman, William Lynn, and Thomas Quick each received 4,312 acres. The remaining men also received acreage according to rank with the Captains receiving 3,234acres; Ensign Jacob Vanmeter received 2,156 acres; Cornet John Thurston received 2,156 acres; Lieutenants received 2,156 acres; Sergeants 216 acres; and the privates each received 108 acres.

Additional Sources:

www.cismall.com
www.americanrevolution.com
grccsar.homestead.com
www.il.ngb.army.mil

[SAMWolf]

It will be observed that the quanity of land allotted the private soldiers was only one hundred and eight acres each. It should have been no less than "three hundred," which was the quanity those great statesmen Jefferson, Wythe, and Mason mentioned in their joint letter to Clark at the inception of the campaign, as being "just and reasonable," and what they were likely to receive if it proved successful. There was certainly an implied moral obligation created by that letter which everybody ought to have respected; but even without it "three hundred acres" to each of the men, who aided so materially in acquiring a territorial empire, would have been little enough. More land should have been included in the grant, but even as it was, a division of the one hundred and forty-nine thousand acres, which gave one hundred twenty-three thousand five hundred and twelve acres to sixty-four officers, and only twenty-five thousand four hundred and eighty-eight acres to two hundred and thirty-six privates, does not seem to have been exactly as equitable as it should have been.

[SAMWolf]

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.

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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

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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.

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

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UPDATED THROUGH APRIL 2004



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Toward FREEDOM

[Aeronaut]

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[E.G.C.]

God morning, Snippy and everyone at the Freeper Foxhole.

[The Mayor]

December 13, 2004

Cave Man

Read: Psalm 142

Attend to my cry, for I am brought very low. —Psalm 142:6

Bible In One Year: Hosea 12-14; Revelation 4

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David was stuck in a cave (Psalm 142). Some Bible commentators think this was when he was running from King Saul, who wanted to kill him (1 Samuel 22:1). Trouble and troublemakers hounded him. Hemmed in by his circumstances and smothered by danger, he turned to God for help.

• David was frightened, so he poured out his complaint to God (v.2).
  
• He felt alone and uncared for, so he cried out to God (vv.1,4-5).
  
• His situation was desperate, so he pleaded for rescue (v.6).
  
• David was trapped, so he begged for freedom (v.7).

What cave surrounds you today? A cave of despair brought on by grief or illness? A cave of difficulties caused by your own poor decisions? Are you stuck in a cave of questions or doubts that rob you of joy and confidence?

Here's what David did when he was trapped in his cave: He asked God for mercy, he sought refuge in Him, and he promised to use his eventual freedom as a way to praise God. In the end, he looked forward to the comfort of fellow believers.

Complaint followed by faith. Desperation followed by praise. Loneliness followed by fellowship. We can learn a lot from a cave man. —Dave Branon

When we experience suffering,
God's comfort will abound;
For tribulations teach us where
True comfort can be found. —Sper

In every desert of calamity, God has an oasis of comfort.

[GailA]

Good morning

[Charles Henrickson]

Thanks for posting this. I am related to George Rogers Clark (from which of his brothers, I'm not sure.) My mother was a Clark. The Clark side of our family tends toward the height and red hair that George Rogers and William Clark were famous for.

[alfa6]

Monday Morning Revelotionary War Bump for the Foxhole.

'eres a 4 nose close up to help get going on Monday.

And a Christmas cartoon for bentfeather

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning FOXHOLE!

[Soaring Feather]

GM, alfa!

Thanks for the plane and toon! WOW, now that's a nose.

LOL on the toon!!

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on December 13:
1521 Sixtus V [Felice Peretti/"Montalto"] bishop of Fermo/Pope (1585-90)
1553 Henry IV, 1st Bourbon king of Navarre/France (1572/89-1610)
1816 E Werner von Siemens, German artillery officer/inventor
1818 Mary Todd Lincoln (First Lady: wife of 16th U.S. President Abraham Lincoln)
1903 Carlos Montoya (guitarist)
1910 Van (Emmet) Heflin (Academy Award-winning actor: Johnny Eager [1942])
1918 Bill Vukovich (race car driver: Indianapolis 500 winner [1953, 1954])
1920 George Shultz (Secretary of State under U.S. President Ronald Reagan [1982-1988])
1922 Rex Allen Wilcox AZ, cowboy actor
1925 Dick Van Dyke (Emmy Award-winning actor/comedian:
1925 Wayne Walker (country music composer)
1929 Christopher Plummer (Orme) (Emmy Award-winning actor)
1930 Robert Prosky Philadelphia PA, actor (Christine, Sergeant Jablonski-Hill St Blues)
1934 Richard Darryl Zanuck (producer: Jaws, The Sting)
1935 Karim Aga Khan, prince/billionaire/husband of Rita Hayworth
1941 John Davidson (actor, singer; TV game show host: Hollywood Squares)
1948 Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter (musician: guitarist: groups: Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers)
1949 Ted Nugent (musician: original group: Amboy Dukes; guitarist, singer: Cat Scratch Fever)
1950 Brad Dusek (football)
1967 Jamie Foxx comedian
1972 GiGi Gordon Butler PA, Miss America-Pennsylvania (1997)

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Deaths which occurred on December 13:
0838 Pippijn I King of Aquitania, dies
1048 Al-Biruni, Arabic royal astrologer, dies at 74
1124 Callistus II [Guido di Borgogna] Italian Pope (1119-24), dies
1204 Maimonides (Moses ben Maimon), 69, medieval Jewish scholar and author. dies
1250 Frederick II, German Emperor (1212-1250), dies at 55
1557 Niccoló Tartaglia Italian mathematician, dies
1672 Jan II Kazimierz king of Poland (1648-68), dies at 63
1738 Gotthard Wagner composer, dies at 59
1862 Conrad Feger Jackson US Union Brigadier-General, dies in battle at 49
1862 Maxcy Gregg US Confederate Brigadier-General, dies in battle at 48
1862 Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb Confederate Brigadier-General, dies in battle at 39
1958 Ahmed Mukhtar Baban, premier of Iraq, executed
1958 Barhanuddin Bashajan, Iraqi minister of Foreign affairs, executed
1961 Grandma [Anna M] Moses, US painter, dies at 101
1969 Raymond A Spruance, US Admiral (Battle of Midway), dies at 83
1974 Rufe Davis actor (Floyd Smoot-Petticoat Junction), dies at 66
1993 Myrna Loy, actress (Thin Man, Vanity Fair), dies at 88

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1966 WATERS SAMUEL EDWIN JR.---MOCKSVILLE NC.
[03/18/77 SRV RETURNED REMAINS TO PCOM]
1967 BENNETT ROBERT E. III---SPRINGFIELD NJ.
[PARA IN RIVER SANK]
1968 ALBRIGHT JOHN S. II---HUNTINGTON WV.
["MID AIR COLLISION, PARA OBS"]
1968 CLARKE FRED L.---TROUTMAN NC.
["MID AIR COLLISION, PARA OBS"]
1968 DAILEY DOUGLAS V.---WATERFORD MI.
["MID AIR COLLISION, PARA OBS"]
1968 DONAHUE MORGAN J.---ALEXNADRIA VA.
["MID AIR COLLISION, PARA OBS"]
1968 DUGAN THOMAS W.---READING PA.
1968 FANNING JOSEPH P.---LONG ISLAND CITY NY.
"MID AIR COLLISION, PARA OBS"]
1968 MC GOULDRICK FRANCIS J. JR.---NEW HAVEN CT.
1968 WALKER SAMUEL F.---PHILADELPHIA PA.
["MID AIR COLLISION, PARA OBS"]

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

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On this day...
0863 Boudouin with the Iron Arm weds Charles de Kales' daughter Judith
1294 Pope Coelestinus V ends term
1545 Pope Paul III opens Council of Trente (19th ecumenical council)
1570 Sweden/Denmark signs Peace of Stettin
1572 Spanish army beats Geuzen fleet under Admiral Lumey
1577 Sir Francis Drake sets sail from England to go around the world
1642 New Zealand discovered by Dutch navigator Abel Tasman
1759 1st music store in America opens (Philadelphia)
1769 Dartmouth College in New Hampshire received its charter
1774 1st incident of the Revolution-400 attack Fort William & Mary, New Hampshire
1816 Patent for a dry dock issued to John Adamson, Boston
1843 "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens published, 6,000 copies sold
1861 Battle of Alleghany Summit WV
1862 Battle of Fredericksburg VA (Marye's Heights) (11,000 Northern soldiers were killed or wounded)
1864 Battle of Fort McAllister GA
1879 1st federal fish hatching steamer launched (Wilmington DE)
1889 Belgium rules on women/child labor law
1895 1st complete execution of Gustav Mahlers 2nd Symphony
1903 Italo Marcioni patents the ice cream cone (New Jersey)
1906 German chancellor Bernhard von Bülow disbands the Parliament
1907 German emperor Wilhelm II visits Amsterdam
1913 Mona Lisa stolen in Aug 1911 returned to Louvre
1916 Avalanche kills 10,000 Austrian & Italian troops in 24 hours in Tyrol
1916 Esme Stuart Lennox Robinsons premieres in Dublin
1916 French chief of staff Joffre replaced by Nivelle
1918 US army of occupation crosses the Rhine, enters Germany
1918 Woodrow Wilson, becomes 1st to make a foreign visit as President (France)
1919 Ross & Smith land in Australia from a flight from London
1920 F Pease's interferometer measures 1st stellar diameter (Betelgeuse)
1920 League of nations establishes International Court of Justice in The Hague
1920 Netherlands breaks contact with kingdoms of Serbia, Croatia & Slavia
1922 Charles Ebbets proposes putting numbers on players' sleeves or caps
1924 KOA-AM in Denver CO begins radio transmissions
1928 George Gershwin's "An American In Paris" premieres (New York NY)
1928 Clip-on tie designed
1930 Theodore Steeg forms French government
1936 Final Boston Redskin NFL game, lose to Packers 21-6, move to Washington DC
1936 Green Bay Packers win NFL championship
1937 The Rape of Nanking begins
1938 Los Angeles freezes at 28ºF
1939 Battle at La Plata - 3 British cruisers vs German Graf Spee
1941 German occupiers forbid National Front & Netherlands Union
1941 U-81 torpedoes British aircraft carrier Ark Royal
1942 Seyss-Inquart allows Dutch Nazi Anton Mussert to call himself Leader
1942 Washington Redskins defeat Chicago Bears 14-6, to win NFL title
1943 150 US Marauders bomb Schiphol
1944 Japanese kamikaze crashes into US cruiser Nashville, kills 138
1946 Léon Blum elected French premier
1947 Maine Turnpike opens to traffic
1947 "Caribbean Carnival" closes at International NYC after 11 performances
1949 American League votes down proposal to revive the spitball
1949 Knesset votes to transfer Israel's capitol to Jerusalem
1950 James Dean begins his career with an appearance in a Pepsi commercial
1951 Future British PM Margaret Roberts Thatcher marries Denis Thatcher
1953 KOAM TV channel 7 in Pittsburg-Joplin KS (CBS) begins broadcasting
1959 Archbishop Makarios elected 1st President of Cyprus
1960 Italy beats US in Davis cup (1st time in 24 years US not in finals)
1960 Laos General Fumi Nosavang occupies Vientiane
1961 Beatles sign a formal agreement to be managed by Brian Epstein
1961 Gideon Hausner in Jerusalem demands death penalty for Adolf Eichmann
1961 Jimmy Dean's Big Bad John album is country music's 1st million $ seller
1962 Relay 1 communication satellite launched
1963 Capitol records signs right of 1st refusal agreement with the Beatles
1964 In El Paso TX, LBJ & Mexican President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz set off an explosion diverting Rio Grande, to reshape US-México border
1965 Algerian President Boumédienne visits Moscow
1966 1st US bombing of Hanoi
1966 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1967 United Soccer Association & National Pro Soccer League merge into NASL
1967 Unsuccessful coup against Greek King Constantine II
1968 President Da Costa e Silva of Brazil disbands parliament/grabs power
1969 Billy Martin fired as Twins' manager
1969 Arlo Guthrie releases "Alice's Restaurant"
1971 John Sinclair (sentenced to 10 years for selling 2 marijuana joints) is freed
1973 World Football League grants 1st franchise (Detroit)
1973 MPLA/FNLA accord about combat against Portuguese Libya
1974 Malta becomes a republic
1974 Jim "Catfish" Hunter wins free agent claim against A's owner Finley
1975 1st time Saturday Night Live uses a time delay (Richard Pryor hosts)
1975 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR
1976 Longest non-stop passenger airflight (Sydney to San Francisco 13 hours 14 minutes)
1977 Entire University of Evansville basketball team (14 players) die in plane crash
1978 Susan B Anthony dollar, 1st US coin to honor a woman, issued
1979 Strikes against price increases in Gdansk Poland
1981 Polish government declares martial law, arrests Solidarity activists
1982 Earthquake hits Northern Yemen; 2,000 die
1983 Islander's Butch Goring scorings 4 goals against Oilers
1983 Martha Layne Collins inaugurated as Kentucky's 1st female governor
1983 British Airways incorporates
1984 Artificial heart recipient William Schroeder suffers 1st stroke
1987 Belgium Christian Democrats (CVP) loses parliamentary election
1987 Browns set club record for most points scored in a quarter, 28
1988 Yasser Arafat addresses UN in Geneva
1989 Forced repatriation of Vietnamese in Hong Kong
1989 Walter Davis (Denver) ends NBA free throw streak of 53 games
1990 President De Klerk of South Africa meets with Nelson Mandela to talk of end of apartheid
1991 Both Koreas sign an accord calling for reconciliation
1991 New York assembly speaker Mel Miller is convicted of federal mail fraud
1993 Fire in textile factory in Fuzjou China, 60 killed
1993 Space shuttle STS-61 (Endeavour 5) lands
1994 American Eagle commuter plane crashes in North Carolina, killing 15

2000 Republican George W. Bush claimed the presidency five weeks after Election Day and a day after the U.S. Supreme Court shut down further recounts of disputed ballots in Florida. Democrat Al Gore conceded, delivering a call for national unity.

2001 Calling it a Cold War relic, President George W. Bush announced the U.S. was pulling out of the 1972 Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty, opening the way for the Defense Department to test and deploy a missile defense system without restraints.

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

Malta : Republic Day
Upper Volta : National Day
International Calendar Awareness Month

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Religious Observances
Moslem : New Year
Roman Catholic : Memorial of St Lucy, virgin & martyr (St Lucia Day in Sweden)
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Odilia, abbess, patroness of the blind

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Religious History
1204 Death of Maimonides (Moses ben Maimon), 69, medieval Jewish scholar and author. His greatest writing, "Guide of the Perplexed" (1190) attempted to harmonize Aristotelian philosophy with rabbinic Judaism.
1823 Birth of William W. How, Anglican clergyman. Shunning the glory of higher ecclesiastical positions, How was known for his work among the poor in East London. He also wrote 50 hymns, of which "We Give Thee But Thine Own" and "For All the Saints" remain two of his most popular.
1835 Birth of Phillips Brooks, American Episcopal clergyman. Though he produced ten volumes of sermons, he is better remembered today as author of the Christmas carol, "O Little Town of Bethlehem," written in 1868 for the children of his Sunday School.
1851 Birth of E.O. Excell, American sacred chorister. Excell published 50 gospel songbooks and wrote and composed 2,000 hymns, including "Since I Have Been Redeemed, "Count Your Blessings" and "I'll Be a Sunbeam for Jesus."
1950 American missionary martyr Jim Elliot wrote in his journal: 'I think God is to be glorified by asking the impossible of Him.'

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

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Thought for the day :
"LUCK: how else can you explain the success of those you dislike?"

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Modern Lies...
Just take a left after the lights -- you can't miss it.

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Lawyers' Seasonal Greeting


From us ("the wishor") to you ("hereinafter called the wishee")

Please accept without obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally- conscious, socially-responsible, politically-correct, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all... and a financially-successful, personally-fulfilling, and medically- uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally-accepted calendar year 2001, but with due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures or sects, and having regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform, or dietary preference of the wishee.

By accepting this greeting you are bound by these terms that-

This greeting is subject to further clarification or withdrawal;

This greeting is freely transferable provided that no alteration shall be made to the original greeting and that the proprietary rights of the wishor are acknowledged;

This greeting implies no promise by the wishor to actually implement any of the wishes;

This greeting may not be enforceable in certain jurisdictions and/or the restrictions herein may not be binding upon certain wishees in certain jurisdictions and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wishor;

This greeting is warranted to perform as reasonably may be expected within the usual application of good tidings, for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first;

The wishor warrants this greeting only for the limited replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wishor; and,

Any references in this greeting to "the Lord", "Father Christmas", "Our Saviour", or any other festive figures, whether actual or fictitious, dead or alive, shall not imply any endorsement by or from them in respect of this greeting, and all proprietary rights in any referenced third party names and images are hereby acknowledged.

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The Rules of Chocolate...
The problem: How to get 2 pounds of chocolate home from the store in hot car.
The solution: Eat it in the parking lot.

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Famous Last Words...
I'll hold it and you light the fuse.

[Professional Engineer]

Good morning ladies. Flag-o-gram.

A day to remember BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Master Sgt. Timothy Deramus clinches the U.S. flag during a Veterans Day ceremony at Camp Sather here Nov. 11. Sergeant Deramus is an information manager deployed from Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., and is the noncommissioned officer in charge of the camp's honor guard detail. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Michael O'Connor)

With Reverence size

[SZonian]

Good morning SAM and snippy
thanks for the ping!

Cheers!

[aomagrat]

Today's classic warship, USS Alabama

Alabama class sidewheel gunboat

Displacement. 1,261 t.
Lenght. 214' 4"
Beam. 35' 2"
Draft. 14' 6"
Speed. 13 k.
Complement. 175
Armament. 8 32-pdr. sb.

The secession of Virginia from the Union on 17 April 1861 extended Confederate territory to the southern bank of the Potomac, greatly imperiling the capital of the United States and prompting immediate action to strengthen Washington's almost nonexistent defenses with Northern troops. Two days later, supporters of the South clashed with soldiers of the 6th Massachusetts as that regiment was passing through Baltimore en route to Washington. This prompted Baltimore officials to order the destruction of railroad bridges north of their city. This action severed all direct rail connection between Washington and the large cities of the North which were sending troops to its defense. To reopen the flow of the capital, the Army commandeered a number of steamships in Northern ports for service as transports ALABAMA-which would become the first ship to serve the United States Navy under the name of that state-was one of these steamers.

Laid down in 1849 by William Henry Webb in his shipyard on New York City's East River, ALABAMA was launched sometime in 1850, probably on either 19 January or 10 June. In any case the steamer was delivered to the New York and Savannah Steam Navigation Co. in January 1851. Before the month was out, she sailed for Savannah on her first run for her owner.

The urgent need to strengthen the defenses of Washington ended more than a decade of commercial service along the Atlantic coast for ALABAMA. Taken over by the Army shortly after the Baltimore riots, the steamer embarked troops at New York and got underway for the Virginia capes in company with two other transports. Escorted by the Navy's just recommissioned brig PERRY, the little convoy rounded Cape Charles and proceeded up Chesapeake Bay to the mouth of the Severn River. Upon its arrival at Annapolis on 25 April, the Union soldiers disembarked and boarded trains which, bypassing Baltimore, took them to Washington.

However, paperwork seems to have been slow in catching up with the actions taken by the Federal Government during the opening weeks of the Civil War, and the earliest charter for its use of ALABAMA is not dated until 10 May 1862. Meanwhile, into the summer of 1861, the steamer had continued to carry troops munitions, and supplies to Annapolis and to Fort Monroe, the Union's only remaining hold on the shores of Virginia's strategic waters in the Virginia capes-Hampton Roads area.

The Union Navy purchased ALABAMA at New York on 1 August 1861 from the firm of S. L. Mitchell and Son and, after fitting the ship out for naval service, commissioned her at the navy yard there on 30 September 1861, Comdr. Edmund Lanier in command.

The ship was assigned to Flag Officer Samuel F. Du Pont's newly established South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, which was charged with guarding the Confederate coast from the border between North and South Carolina to the tip of the Florida Peninsula. Du Pont's orders also called for him to capture some harbor within his sector as a base and a port of convenience for Union ships moving to and from the Gulf of Mexico.

While taking hold of the administrative reins of his new command, the flag officer assembled a group of warships at New York City for a joint Army-Navy expedition against Port Royal, S.C., which he had selected as the site of the new base. On 16 October, ALABAMA got underway in this task force and headed for the Virginia capes. Two days later, the Union men-of-war anchored in Hampton Roads, the staging point for the impending attack.

However, on the 25th, before the expedition could sortie for the South Carolina coast, word reached Du Pont that SUSQUEHANNA had suffered engine trouble which seriously impaired her efficiency. Responding to this crisis, the flag officer ordered ALABAMA to waters off Charleston to plug this new hole in the blockade of that strategically and symbolically important port. Thus, ALABAMA lost her role in the conquest of Port Royal.

When ALABAMA arrived on station outside Charleston bar on the 27th, she began performing more than her normal share of steaming since Flag, her companion there, was crippled by boiler trouble. On the morning of 5 November, she chased, boarded and took possession of LA CORBETA PROVIDENCIA of Majorca which four days earlier had been stopped by MONTICELLO. While that Spanish bark's papers were on board that Union screw gunboat for examination, a storm arose and separated the two vessels. Thus, PROVIDENCIA could show no papers to Comdr. Lanier, so he sent her to Hampton Roads as a prize. After the true facts were determined, the bark was turned over to the Spanish consul at New York for return to her owner.

On 12 December, while proceeding from the recently acquired Union base at Port Royal to St. Simon's Sound, Ga., ALABAMA sighted a large vessel some 12 to 14 miles south of Tybee Island. After a brief chase, she brought the stranger to and on boarding, identified her as Admiral, a sailing ship which had left Liverpool two months before, bound for St. John, New Brunswick. However, the boarding party found among the ship's documents, a contract agreeing to deliver her cargo of salt, coal, and general merchandise to Savannah. Since this evidence destroyed the credibility of her clearance papers, Lanier sent Admiral to Philadelphia where she was condemned by the prize court. During the remainder of the autumn and the ensuing winter, besides serving on blockade duty, ALABAMA performed widely varied duties for her squadron such as carrying dispatches and supplies to fellow warships in the area, searching for the missing schooner PERI, and towing granite- laden ships of the stone fleet to Charleston from Savannah where their use as obstructions to stop blockade runners had been obviated by hulks which the Southerners themselves had sunk in the channel leading to that port to bar the entry of Northern warships.

In late February and early March 1862, she was part of the task force which occupied Fernandia and Amelia Island, giving the Union virtual control of Florida's entire Atlantic coast. At the conclusion of this operation, Du Pont, on 6 March, ordered ALABAMA to carry his chief of staff, Capt. Charles Henry Davis-who had been earmarked to head a squadron and soon would be given command of the Western Flotilla-north to deliver to the President a report of the Union's bloodless victory. Since the Confederates had erected batteries along the Virginia bank of the Potomac making navigation of that river extremely dangerous for Union ships, the flag officer sent her to Baltimore rather than directly to Washington. His eagerness to have the good news reach the Union capital prompted Du Pont to have ALABAMA skip the customary stop at Hampton Roads.

This decision deprived the steamer of a front row seat at-and conceivably a role in-the most historic single naval action of the Civil War. On 9 March, as she passed between the Virginia capes and started up Chesapeake Bay, all on board could hear the guns of MONITOR and MERRIMAC-the latter reborn as CSS VIRGINIA-as they fought the first duel between ironclad warships. Davis later recalled the skirmish, upon his asking the master of a passing river steamer the meaning of the sound, he had been told " . . . that it was target practice . . . with the great guns on the Rip-Raps."

The ship reached Baltimore the next day, and Davis went on by train to Washington where he delivered Du Pont's report and visited the White House to give Lincoln a detailed personal account of the Florida operations. Meanwhile, ALABAMA began nine days in port undergoing replenishment and repairs. She stood down Chesapeake Bay on 19 March and, four days later, arrived off Port Royal and resumed duty with her squadron.

Early in April, she took station in St. Simon's Bay, Ga., and found on St. Simon's Island a recently established and growing colony of blacks who had escaped from their masters. The 26 men, 6 women, and 9 children in group were busy " . . . planting potatoes, corn, etc. . . ." but were short on food so Lanier visited a plantation on Jekyl Island and obtained a large supply of sweet potatoes to feed the former slaves until their labors bore fruit. By the time ALABAMA left St. Simons on the 18th, the size of the community of "contrabands" on St. Simons had increased to 89. Thus the rapid growth of this colony of former slaves illustrated the erosive effect of the war on the South's "peculiar institution" throughout the Confederacy and especially in areas controlled, or close to, Union forces.

FLORIDA arrived in St. Simon's Bay on 18 April relieving ALABAMA who got underway the next morning. She joined the blockading forces off Charleston on the 20th. While on duty there on the night of 7 May, she sighted, chased, and fired at an incoming schooner which escaped in the darkness. At dawn, she sighted the elusive vessel aground off Light- House Inlet. She promptly stood in toward the stranded ship as far as the depth of water allowed and fired two rounds at the blockade runner. Both fell short. Later that morning, local people joined the schooner's crew in a race to unload this strangers cargo before she bilged.

An even better day for ALABAMA began about three hours before dawn on 20 June when she assisted KEYSTONE STATE in capturing SARAH as that British schooner was attempting to escape from Charleston harbor to carry 156 bales of cotton to Nassau. ALABAMA scored again at daybreak, when she caught CATALINA after that Charleston schooner had slipped out of her home port laden with more cotton. Lanier sent that prize to Philadelphia where she was condemned by the admiralty court.

A frustrating action for ALABAMA began about 90 minutes after midnight on the morning of 26 July when her sister blockader CRUSADER sighted, fired upon, and chased a steamer which was attempting to sneak into Charleston. The Union vessel's shells forced the blockade runner back out to sea, but CRUSADER's limited speed-slowed even more by ailing engines-made her no match for the fleet stranger. ALABAMA joined in the pursuit and followed in the stranger's wake for about 25 miles before her quarry disappeared over the horizon.

Four days later, CRUSADER's engines broke down completely, necessitating ALABAMA's towing her to Port Royal. That mission came at a fortuitous time since Comdr. Lanier had become sick several weeks before and his condition had steadily worsened. His illness prompted Du Pont to order Lt. Comdr. James H. Gillis to relieve Lanier in command of ALABAMA, freeing the stricken officer to return north to recuperate. However, the assignment was brief for Gillis for, on 12 August, Lt. Comdr. Wilham T. Truxtun took command of the ship.

During ensuing weeks, ALABAMA operated primarily in the shallow waters of the bays and rivers along the coast of Georgia. The highlight of her duty during this period was her capture of " . . . the English schooner NELLIE, from Nassau, purporting to be bound for Baltimore." Truxtun sent the prize to Philadelphia for adjudication. However, her first year of service in the Navy had taken a heavy toll on ALABAMA, and she needed repairs which could not be made at Port Royal. On 26 September, to return her to fighting trim, Du Pont ordered her to Philadelphia. On the voyage north, she carried " . . . William H. Gladding, a Pilot taken in a schooner attempting to pass the blockade at Sapelo, and reported him to you as too dangerous a man to be allowed to be adrift." The ship sailed on the 29th, reached Philadelphia on 3 October, but headed further north three days later, and arrived at Boston on the 9th and was decommissioned there on the 15th.

The steamer underwent repairs in the navy yard there for about six weeks. The exact date of her recommissioning is unknown since no logs for her between 15 October 1862 and 17 May 1864 seem to have survived. In any case, from other records, we know that ALABAMA-then commanded by Comdr. Edward T. Nichols-departed Boston on New Year's Day 1863, bound for the Virgin Islands to stop, or at least to gather information about, the Confederate privateer RETRIBUTION. She reached St. Thomas on the 9th where Nichols found " . . . much excitement among the masters of American vessels in the harbor in consequence of the appearance off the port of a Confederate privateer schooner, and the chasing by her of two American vessels back into the harbor ...."

The next morning, ALABAMA got underway and cruised in the waters between St. Thomas and Puerto Rico vainly seeking the Southern raider. This cruise typified most of her subsequent operations during ensuing months in the special squadron which was established to counter the commerce destroying action of Confederate raiders and privateers. Her efforts to protect Union shipping-which were primarily devoted to catching the Southern cruisers ALABAMA and FLORIDA-were ended in the summer by an outbreak of yellow fever on board. On 27 July, she was ordered to Boston in the hope that cooler weather would help to restore her crew to good health. She departed Cape Haitien, Haiti, later that day; but the growing list of deaths which occurred after she got underway and the deteriorating condition of her chief engineer and one other member of her crew forced her to put into New York where she was apparently decommissioned before transferring her entire crew to the receiving ship MAGNOLIA. She was then towed to Portsmouth, N.H., and placed in quarantine.

Recommissioned on 17 May 1864, Acting Vol. Lt. Frank Smith in command, she stood down the Piscataqua River and headed out to sea on the 30th. After stopping at New York for 10 days, she resumed her voyage south and joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Newport News, Va., on 11 June and served in its waters through the end of the war. Highlights of her remaining year in naval service were her participation in the capture of ANNIE off New Inlet N.C., as that British steamer attempted to slip out of Wilmlngton with a cargo of cotton, tobacco, and turpentine; and her shelling of Fort Fisher during the two attacks on that Confederate stronghold which protected Wilmington, in late-December 1864 and in midJanuary 1865.

On 26 March of the latter year, she ascended the James River to Citv Point, Va., and remained there during the final days of Grant’s drive on Richmond. After the fall of Richmond and Lee's surrender, she headed downstream on 10 April and remained in the Newport News-Hampton Roads area during the first 10 days of uncertainty, fear, and anger following Lincoln's assassination.

ALABAMA stood out to sea on the 24th and, two days later, entered the New York Navy Yard for repairs. Somewhat refurbished, she headed south again on 22 May and operated between Atlantic ports from Hampton Roads to the Delaware River for almost two months. She was decommissioned at Philadelphia on 14 July 1865, sold at auction there to Samuel C. Cook on 10 August 1865, and redocumented under her original name on 3 October 1865. She operated along the Atlantic coast between New York and Florida under a series of owners. In 1872 her engines were removed and on 12 September of that year she was reregistered as a schooner. The veteran ship was destroyed by fire-probably sometime in 1878-but the details of her destruction are not known.

[snippy_about_it]

Clark ordered that all of the company's flags be marched back and forth behind a slight rise to convince the British that there were 600 men rather than under 200.

Clever. Thanks for today's story. Clark led an interesting life and we normally only hear about his brother.

[snippy_about_it]

Shameless plugs are always welcome here. ;-)