|
Posted on 12/22/2004 10:57:32 PM PST by SAMWolf
|
|
 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
|
| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
|
|
The federal expedition into Utah Territory in 1857-58, which pitted President James Buchanan's U.S. Army against Brigham Young's Nauvoo Legion, was largely a bloodless affair, but misjudgments, embarrassments and expenses abounded.  President James Buchanan When Brigham Young, with the first Mormon pioneers, set foot on the spacious Salt Lake Valley floor on July 24, 1847, he boasted that if they could have just 10 years of peace, they would ask no odds of the devil or Uncle Sam. The young religion that taught continuing revelation had already experienced a turbulent 17-year history. By the time the Latter-day Saints sought refuge in the Rocky Mountain wilderness, some members had been driven from their homes as many as four times. It was, curiously, 10 years to the day--on July 24, 1857--that Young received word that an American army was on its way to Utah Territory. The news was not altogether unexpected. Utah was a difficult post for federal territorial appointees. Mormon polygamy and theocratic tendencies were viewed by much of the country as peculiar and un-American. On the other hand, the federally appointed judges and other agents chosen from outside their community were an annoyance to the Mormons, whose petition for statehood was repeatedly refused. President Millard Fillmore had made a small concession, appointing Brigham Young as Utah's territorial governor. Judge William W. Drummond was particularly obnoxious to Salt Lake society. He lectured polygamists for their immoral lifestyle while he was cohabitating with another man's wife. Of even greater irritation, Drummond, along with Judges George P. Stiles and John F. Kinney, all sought to recoup federal jurisdiction from Utah's probate courts, which the Mormons had been creatively using to circumvent federal authority. The stormy relationships climaxed when Utah lawyers broke into Stiles' office in protest and pretended to burn court documents and law books in the privy out back. One by one, Drummond, Stiles and Kinney each packed his bags and headed back to Washington, declaring in scathing letters that they had barely escaped Utah with their lives. President Buchanan thought he should do something. Appointing a new territorial governor and new federal judges, and sending in 2,500 troops seemed like a good solution.  Brigham Young Instructions from General-in-Chief Winfield Scott to General William S. Harney on June 29, 1857, stated that the troops under Harney's command were to be a posse comitatus, and that "in no case will you, your officers or men, attack any body of citizens whatever, except on such requisition or summons, or in sheer self-defense." The administration, however, whether unintentionally or deliberately, neglected to inform Utah Territorial Governor Brigham Young of its decision or directives. Utah's leaders learned of the approaching army from mail carriers, who had picked up word of the big government supply contracts in Independence, Mo. In this vacuum of information, and after 27 years of persecution, the Mormons assumed the worst. It had been only 13 years since they buried their first prophet, Joseph Smith, killed by a mob in Carthage, Ill., and only two months since Parley P. Pratt, one of their 12 apostles, had been murdered in Arkansas. Memories of mob violence and broken government promises were still fresh in their minds. Typifying Mormon reaction, Sanford Porter Sr. wrote, "[We are] weak in number, and weak in means, but with too much American blood in our veins to put ourselves up as a target for an army to shoot at without making any effort to protect ourselves." Popular Utah rhetoric cast the Mormons in the role of "Uncle Sam's nephews," walking in his footsteps against tyranny. Nor were Mormon women the oppressed victims waiting for liberation that many Americans, including some of the approaching soldiers, assumed. Salt Lake wives poured hot lead into molds to make bullets and sewed blankets into overcoats for militiamen. When an army quartermaster asked Mrs. Albert Carrington if she would cut down her carefully cultivated peach orchard to defend her faith, she replied in the affirmative, "And would sit up nights to do it."  General William S. Harney On August 1, 1857, Utah mustered its territorial militia, called the Nauvoo Legion after its Illinois antecedent. Drilling commenced throughout the territory. The government sought to gather guns and ammunition, and manufactured Colt revolvers. Grain and other food supplies were cached. Settlers were recalled from distant homesteads such as San Bernardino, Calif., and the Carson Valley (then part of Utah Territory but later part of Nevada), while traveling associates were sent for from the Eastern states and Europe. Councils were held with the native tribesmen with the aim of keeping them friendly, or at least neutral. On August 15, the Mormons sent Colonel Robert T. Burton and a reconnaissance unit of 125 men eastward from Salt Lake City with orders to observe the American regiments en route to the territory and protect the Mormon emigrants still on the overland road that season. Two of Burton's men, Charles Decker and Jesse Earl, went into the soldiers' camps posing as travelers from California. What they learned while mingling with the uninformed and boastful enlisted men and junior officers only fueled Mormon fears that the army was coming to hang their leaders and abuse their women. Initially, there was a belief that the invasion of Utah might be a two-pronged attack, with troops sent from both the east and also from California. Tooele Valley militiaman Thomas Atkin Jr. was a member of a unit assigned to watch the roads and passes on the western routes into the territory. Another likely access from the west coast was the southwestern road, leaving Los Angeles and reaching Utah by way of St. George. In southern Utah, Colonel William H. Dame of the Parowan Military District reported on August 23 that he could field 200 men, if necessary, and that all the roads south of Beaver were being guarded. Units were also sent to explore and guard the passes from the north. Forty-three men under Captain Andrew Cunningham were sent to the Snake River near Fort Hall, while 12 men from Weber County were sent to explore the country east of Ogden. Indeed, all of the passes into the territory were being watched and evaluated as potential routes of invasion or as avenues of escape for the Mormon people.  In Defense against the approach of Johnston's army, Brigham Young posted this proclamation throughout Utah Territory on August 5, 1857, declaring martial law and forbidding any person to pass in or through the territory without permission from an authorized officer. Courtesy Special Collections Department, University of Utah Libraries. Though preparing for war, Utah's leaders sought to keep their options open. Publicly, they spoke of defending their rights and reminded each other of past abuses. Privately however, Brigham Young expressed what would become his favored policy. In the communiqués that accompanied his proclamation of martial law on September 14, Young along with the Nauvoo Legion's commanding general, Daniel H. Wells, told the district commanders Philo Farnsworth and Colonel Dame: "Let there be no excitement....Save life always when it is possible. We do not wish to shed a drop of blood if it can be avoided. This course will give us great influence abroad." Envoys were sent east to Washington, D.C., and influential friends hoped to work out a negotiated solution. At the same time, plans were also discussed for a mass migration to distant mountain valleys where extended guerrilla war could be fought, as a last resort. During the months of October and November, between 1,200 and 2,000 militiamen were stationed in the narrow, high-walled Echo Canyon and the equally defensible East Canyon, on the main road into the Salt Lake Valley. Living on little more than baked flour and water and dealing with the numerous feet of snow that kept falling on the Wasatch Range, the Utah men built breastworks, dug rifle pits and dammed the streams and rivers in preparation for battle. Those who venture off today's interstate highway can still see the remnants of their efforts. Utah's first line of defense, however, were several hundred mounted men known as "scouts," "rangers," or "bandits" and "scoundrels," depending on your point of view. This unorthodox cavalry was sent eastward on the high mountain plains that are now southwestern Wyoming with orders to stampede the animals, burn the grass, stage nightly surprises to keep the soldiers from sleeping, block the road with fallen trees and destroy the fords; in other words, "to annoy [the army] in every possible way."
|
The raiders at the infantry camp had similar problems. The bell mule got caught up in sagebrush. By the time the bugle sounded and soldiers stumbled out of their tents, the intruders had fled.
The inaction of picket guards was a great frustration to young officers, such as Captain Jesse Gove of I Company, 10th Infantry, who were anxious to win their colors in a fight. The senior officer present, Colonel Edmund B. Alexander in command of the 10th Infantry, was nicknamed "the Old Woman" behind his back for his desire not to precipitate hostilities. He had issued orders for the soldiers not to shoot until fired upon.
There were practical reasons for the Mormons to want to avoid a shooting war. They hoped to garner sympathy from the public and Eastern newspapers, which could be a factor in any negotiations. But it was also a question of resources. Only about two-thirds of the Nauvoo Legion troops were even armed, and many of those were armed inadequately. In January 1858, Adjutant General James Ferguson reported to Brigham Young that the legion had 6,100 troops, with potentially 1,000 more older men available. Yet, their inventory of weapons included only 2,364 rifles, 1,159 muskets, 99 pistols, and 295 revolvers. Upon receiving his orders, Charles Griffin reported that he saddled his horse and "took my gun and my blankets, that being all the arms I then had."
With neither side eager to draw first blood, the stage was set for what many have called a bloodless war. This isn't to say there were no casualties, although ironically far more occurred among non-combatants than combatants. There were a number of accidental injuries and controversial deaths on both sides. For example, a soldier in H Company "died of fright," having a fatal heart attack the night of the Pacific Springs raid. In southern Utah Territory, heightened emotions led to the tragic Mountain Meadows Massacre of September 11, 1857, in which some Mormon militiamen joined with native Americans to kill the members of a wagon train from Arkansas. In the north, Bannock and Shoshone raids on Mormon settlements inflicted a number of fatalities. The soldiers and their allies instigated these attacks, the Mormons alleged.
Meanwhile, Utah's forces burned the grass for up to a mile on either side of the road, making it inconvenient for troops to find forage for their stock and draft animals. Night "serenading" parties using tin pans, tied and dried raw hides and bake-oven lids for "musical instruments" disturbed the soldiers' sleep and stampeded their mules and cattle. This tactic was particularly effective on snowy, windy nights when visibility was poorest.
www.newgenevacenter.org
de.wikipedia.org
www.lightplanet.com
ourworld.cs.com
www.csulb.edu
helaman.pratt-family.org
www.upoa.org
www.globalsecurity.org
www.lightplanet.com
pao.hood.army.mil
www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com
www.truesecretsof.com
historytogo.utah.gov
wyoshpo.state.wy.us
www.bliss.army.mil
They were in luck as they came across a herd of cattle numbering about 700 head. Sitting on a bluff planning strategy, however, the alliance threatened to unravel. Rockwell thought Smith was "venturesome" and reckless. Rockwell warned him that the troops had found out what a "damn fool" Smith was and had set a trap for him. He suspected that the willows shielded artillery, which would blow them "higher than Gilderoy's kite" when they tried to take the stock. Smith suggested Rockwell could sit this one out if he was afraid. Rockwell told Smith he would see him somewhere else first. The older frontiersman declared that he had waited 40 years for a chance like this and he wouldn't let Smith spoil it for him. He then raised his glass and looked for the cannons. Alfred Cumming Without a word, Smith kicked his mount and started down the steep bluff and the two miles to the cattle. Rockwell was furious, cursing at Smith to wait for the rest of them to catch up. But Smith was already committed. As soon as the Utah force came into view, the guards began driving the cattle toward the army camp. The raiders managed to head them off, at which point the guards chose not to oppose them. Raiders cut out 20 of the poorer cattle and drove the rest away. Rockwell indulged himself, intimidating the anxious guards, boasting that they would "kill every man of them" if Col. Alexander didn't release three Mormon prisoners. Later that night the gunman had a good laugh over their guards' reactions and the success of the operation. Smith had a good laugh too, ribbing Rockwell about the nonexistent cannons. Rockwell took a few men and drove the cattle into the Salt Lake Valley. Smith later described their brief partnership, "I did as I pleased and [Rockwell] regularly damned me for it." Smith's band was now at 60 and growing bolder. James P. Terry tells of following so closely behind the army column that his friends asked straggling soldiers for a chew of tobacco. That evening they ran in the picket guard and camped within a mile of the troops. Losses of stock from raiding parties and constant sightings of Mormons "hovering about" finally induced the patient Alexander to take action. On October 15, he organized several companies mounted on mules. Smith's men did not take this "jackass cavalry," partially bareback and using blind bridles, seriously. It was nearly a fatal mistake. That night the cold was so intense that Smith's men couldn't sleep. Some tried jumping up and down to keep warm. Around four in the morning, a mounted unit under the command of Captain Randolph B. Marcy of the 5th Infantry headed out with a force 100 strong "to have a brush with Lot Smith."  Jim Bridger At about daybreak, Smith's men heard the tramping and braying of the mules. Supposing the soldiers were taking their mules to graze, the raiders saddled up, left their packs with a small squad and followed, hoping to drive the animals away. As it got light enough to see, Smith found that soldiers were mounted on this herd. At about the same moment, the soldiers discovered the Mormons right on their heels. There was some lively scampering as the troops whirled into line, slipped off their mounts and brought their guns to the ready. Smith ordered his men into a line about 40 yards from the soldiers. Then the two captains advanced halfway for a parley. Marcy introduced himself and confirmed that he was speaking with "Captain Smith." He extended an invitation to visit Colonel Alexander, which was declined, then proceeded to talk about almost everything but their present position. Marcy claimed they were searching out a road to Utah and only smiled when Smith declared that this was nonsense, pointing out that the troops had left that road some time ago. (Smith later regretted his attitude, remembering that Marcy had remained a gentleman, calm and civil toward him.) Smith coolly dismounted and tightened his cinch during the conversation, noting the soldiers knocking the powder down in their guns. Marcy asked Smith to take some letters of introduction into Salt Lake City for him, but Smith declined, saying he wouldn't be going into the valley anytime soon. The captains then observed that time was passing and parted company. Smith's band hurried back to pick up their men and pack horses, fully aware of their precarious position. Marcy's command rode along a high ridge to the right, keeping Smith's force in sight. As Smith collected his men, Alexander sprang the trap, although not the one Rockwell had expected. Three companies of infantry suddenly appeared on their left, and with Marcy's jackass cavalry to the right, the militiamen were nearly surrounded. Their only escape was through the icy waters of Ham's Fork and up a steep bluff on the other side. Looking back years later, James P. Terry couldn't imagine how they ever crossed the river, as it was a terrible ford with high, steep banks on both sides. Desperation proved a tremendous motivation. Smith himself scrambled across first, his horse barely making it up the far bank. Downstream was only slightly better, but the Mormons frantically crossed while the mule-mounted cavalry thundered up behind. Marcy's men called for them to halt, but Smith's raiders leisurely rode up the hill, stopping only to exchange some unbecoming language across Ham's Fork. The soldiers seemed to be heading back to camp, so at the top of the ridge, Smith's men felt safe enough to rest and tighten their saddles. It was a rocky area and would have made good cover in a fight; nevertheless, Smith continued down into the valley, not realizing that Marcy's cavalry was crossing the river below out of their view.  Nauvoo Legion Smith was feeling euphoric, with even a little sympathy for Marcy for letting his men slip through his fingers, when the soldiers reached the top of the ridge. They fired more than 30 shots at the Mormons, at a range of 150 yards. One militiaman took a bullet through his hatband, and a horse was grazed in the leg. Now Smith was mad. Whether his ire rose more at Marcy for shooting at them or at himself for leaving the high ground, he didn't say, but once they rode out of range, he sent all but 12 of his men away and tried to entice the soldiers to come down out of the rocks and finish the matter. Marcy had too much sense to let his men leave their cover, and this time Smith had enough sense not to go back up the ridge. And so there the matter ended. From this time, the army became more aggressive, sending out regular patrols. Three times in as many weeks, soldiers nearly caught Mormons in their ambushes, and the guerrillas barely ducked army bullets. Utah's cavalry would not stand and fight however, and were the better mounted. The Nauvoo Legion continued to run off horses, mules and cattle, in spite of patrols, until 1,500 captured head grazed peacefully in the Salt Lake Valley. Among them was a favorite white mule of Colonel Alexander's. As it turned out, these animals fared far better than had they wintered with the army. After 10 weeks of irregular warfare, ironically it was some half-cooked government beef and beans that almost did what the soldiers could not. Sick to his stomach, a half-frozen and exhausted Lot Smith headed back to Echo Canyon and home. Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston finally arrived in the army camp near Harris Fork on November 3, boosting morale considerably. Following a few days' assessment, his troops headed southwest, hoping to push to Salt Lake City, but Mother Nature took over where the Mormons left off, and winter began laying down blankets of snow upon the high mountain plains. It took the 15-mile-long army column 15 days to travel just 35 miles through the snow. Hundreds of oxen and mules died along the trail. "It is quite Russian," Gove remarked, referring to Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. Many soldiers were left pulling their own wagons due to the loss of their stock through weather and theft.  After besieging Fort Bridger and finding only empty, charred ruins, the Utah Expedition went into winter quarters. Once the members of the Nauvoo Legion were satisfied that Johnston's Army (as it is often called in today's Utah) "had the fight frozen out of them"--at least for the moment--they left a handful of their warmest-clothed men to keep watch and sent the rest home. To the end, the Mormon commanders fueled the troops' perception that Echo Canyon was a death trap. In early April 1858, Utah's newly appointed territorial governor, Alfred Cumming, accepted an invitation to come alone into Salt Lake City to discuss the situation. His Mormon escorts brought him through Echo Canyon at night. While only 100 militiamen had been called back to their stronghold, they built 350 campfires along the hillsides. Infantry and cavalry formed single-file lines of 25 on either side of the roadway. As the governor's carriage passed by, they would sneak ahead behind the lines under the cover of darkness and sagebrush, presenting themselves repeatedly to their new governor. Later chagrined when he learned of the trick played at his expense, Cumming nonetheless became a proponent for a peaceful solution. Alexander's earlier avoidance of Echo Canyon and the militia's harassment certainly delayed the troops' advance, allowing winter to set in, and providing time "for something to turn up," as Utah's Mormon leadership had hoped. That "something" turned out to be the U.S. Congress. Critics in the Eastern press, as well as in the House and Senate felt that Buchanan had not handled the Utah problem very well. Reports from the regiment's assistant quartermaster, Captain Stewart Van Vliet, as well as from Mormon sympathizer Thomas L. Kane--both of whom had journeyed to Salt Lake City during the fall and winter--had a mollifying effect in Washington. The president's requests for appropriations to cover reinforcements and unanticipated expenses were delayed, reduced or ignored. As more pressing issues, such as the debate over slavery, overshadowed Utah's defiance, Buchanan reconsidered. Only days before spring thaw and resupply would permit Johnston's Army to move west, Buchanan's "Peace Commission" arrived in the territory bearing a pardon for the Mormon people. Brigham Young's acceptance on June 12, 1858, on behalf of his people was positive if not gracious: "I have no character to protect, no pride to gratify, no vanity to please. If a man comes from the moon and says he will pardon me for kicking him in the moon yesterday, I don't care about it. I'll accept of his pardon. It don't affect me one way or the other."  Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston Peace returned to Utah Territory, to the disappointment of the now brevetted General Johnston and his officers. As a precaution, Young moved his people to the south and posted guards to burn the city should their agreement be violated. Johnston's Army, however, marched professionally through an eerily empty Salt Lake City and built Camp Floyd 40 miles to the southwest, in present-day Cedar Valley. Utah's citizens returned to their homes, and life resumed mostly as it had before, although tension and controversy would stalk the territory for some years to come. It is uncertain what might have happened had the conflict escalated. The Echo and East Canyon defenses probably could have been flanked, but in such rugged terrain, forcing the canyon would have come at a considerable cost in lives. What is clear, though, is that victory is not always achieved through battle. In the years to come, long after Governor Cumming, General Johnston and others from the Utah Expedition had returned to their Eastern and Southern homes to participate in a much more tragic and disastrous rebellion, Utah's militiamen would take great pride in telling the stories of how the Nauvoo Legion had defended their fellow Mormons from perceived injustice in a bloodless winter campaign. In their view, the Almighty had "put a hook in the mouths of their enemies," and had allowed their ragtag, undersupplied, and poorly armed militia to confound some of the best and the brightest of the U.S. Army. |
I had no idea this practice was so old.
Good morning, snippy and everyone at the Foxhole.
Another hat trick today for the denizens of the Foxhole
And finally I think we have one of Peter Cottonail's cousins.
Off to work Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Good morning..our rain turned to sleet then turned to snow. Of course than means Memphis is a total MESS.
When Clausewitz said "War is an extension of politics by other means", he was saying that war is a subset of politics, that is, a part of politics, in just the same way an extension to a house is part of the house. People tend to think of war and politics as separate, or different, but this is not the case.
This "Utah War" shows this clearly. The official response to the "anti-war movement" during the Viet Nam war does likewise.
Von Moltke the Elder, Helmuth Karl von Moltke (1800-1891), Prussian and German Field Marshal, Chief of the Great General Staff, originator of the General Staff system, and architect of the Battle of Königgrätz, http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/mil/html/mh_027600_koniggratzba.htm
and the 1870 Battles of Vionville-Mars-la-Tour, Gravelotte-St.-Privat, and Sedan, wrote that General George Washington was one of the five greatest commanders in all of history. Know why? Von Moltke said that Washington never neglected "the political aspect of war."
Well, bothering neighboring units during annual training was common practice for us.
It had to start somewhere.
*chuckle*
On This Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on December 23:
1174 Louis I Duke of Wittelsbach
1597 Martin Opitz Germany, poet "Father of Modern German Poetry"
1716 Johann Heinrich Rolle composer
1732 Sir Richard Arkwright inventor (spinning frame)
1734 Filinto Elísio [Francisco M do Nascimento] Portuguese poet
1750 Frederik Augustus I the Righteous, king of Saxony (1806-27)
1777 Aleksandr I P Romanov Tsar of Russia (1801-25)
1790 Jean-François Champollion deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphics
1805 Joseph Smith Jr Sharon VT, founder of Mormon church
1808 Thomas Turner Commander (Union Navy), died in 1883
1815 Henry Highland Garnet Maryland, minister/abolitionist/diplomat
1818 David Addison Weisiger Brigadier-General (Confederate Army), died in 1899
1827 Wilhelm Freiherr von Tegetthoff Austrian admiral (Helgoland/Lissa)
1834 Thomas R Malthus English vicar/economist (moral restraint)
1867 Madame C J Walker [Sarah Breedlove] Delta LA, cosmetics mogul
1887 John Cromwell Toledo OH, actor/director (Spitfire, Of Human Bondage)
1907 Don McNeill Galena IL, host (Don McNeill TV Club)
1908 Yousuf Karsh portrait photographer (Life Magazine)
1909 Barney Ross New York NY, Welterweight Boxing Champion (1934)
1911 James Gregory Bronx NY, actor (My Favorite Martian, Barney Miller)
1923 James Stockdale admiral (Vietnam)/Ross Perot's 1992 running mate
1923 Leonard Stern New York NY, producer/TV writer (Phil Silvers Show, Get Smart)
1923 Lucas M Mangope 1st President of Bophuthatswana (1977-94)
1926 Robert Bly US, poet/editor/translator (Loving a Woman in 2 Worlds)
1929 Dick Weber pro bowler (16, 300 games)
1931 Ronnie Schell Richmond CA, comedian (Gomer Pyle, Good Morning World)
1932 Reverend James Cleveland Chicago IL, gospel musician (Old Time Religion, It's Me O Lord)
1935 Paul Hornung Green Bay Packer (the Golden Boy)
1937 Karol Joseph Bobko New York NY, Colonel USAF/astronaut (STS 6, STS 51D, STS 51J)
1940 Jorma Kaukonen Washington DC, rock guitarist (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna)
1943 Queen Silvia of Sweden (born in Heidelberg, Germany), wife of King Carl XVI Gustaf
1943 Derek Small rocker (Spinal Tap)
1945 Ronald Bushy rocker (Iron Butterfly-In A Gadda Da Vida)
1947 Bill Rodgers marathon runner (Boston, New York)
1948 Jack Ham NFL linebacker (Steelers)
1949 Susan Lucci Scarsdale NY, actress (All My Children, Mafia Princess)
1963 Carol Peterka Little Falls MN, team handball back court (Olympics-92, 96)
1965 Eddie Vedder heavy metal singer (Pearl Jam-Justine)
1965 Slash rocker (Guns N' Roses)
1970 Kimberly Ann Cooley Grand Forks ND, Miss America-North Dakota (1996)
Read: Luke 2:8-14
There is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. —Luke 2:11
Bible In One Year: Nahum 1-3; Revelation 14
Why do we celebrate Jesus' birthday so differently from other birthdays? When it's time to honor historical figures who have a day set aside for them, we don't think about them as babies. We don't have pictures of cute little Abe Lincoln in his log cabin in Kentucky. No, we remember him for his contributions as an adult.
It is proper, though, that we celebrate Jesus as a child. Think about it. When He was born, shepherds came to honor Him (Luke 2:15-16). Later, wise men from the East brought Him gifts (Matthew 2:8-12). These people had no idea what Christ would eventually accomplish as an adult. But they were right in doing what they did, because Jesus' birth was the most remarkable event in human history.
How amazing! God in human form. The Creator of the universe visiting this planet. Let's never hesitate to celebrate this baby at Christmas. Marvel at His incarnation. Stand in awe of the tiny baby who had created His worshipers. Then step back in wonder, for the story gets even better. This baby grew into manhood, lived a perfect life, and willingly died for your sins and mine.
Celebrate the baby and trust the Savior. That's how to make Christmas complete. —Dave Branon
Morning Aeronaut
Morning E.G.C.
Looks like another cloudy day. It tried to be sort of nice yesterday but didn't quite make it.
Morning alfa6.
I wish you were here helping Snippy and I too. :-) I'll have Snippy take some pictures of all the stuff we unloaded last night. Most wasn't too heavy, just real awkward to handle and manhandling it in a small space didn't help.
Now we get to "build it". Unless we close we figure it's gonna take about a week days becashe we have to move inventory around as we build.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
