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Posted on 12/28/2004 9:53:04 PM PST by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| 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.
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The USS Memphis was a large armoured cruiser of 18,000 tons, originally named the Tennessee, and launched on 3 December 1904. Her boilers were coal-fired and she had two reciprocating engines which gave her a speed of 23 knots. Her main armament consisted of four ten-inch guns in twin turrets, and when she was commissioned these guns could outrange those of any battleship in existence. Her subsidiary armament included 16 six-inch and 22 three-inch guns.  She was renamed Memphis in 1916 to release the name Tennessee for a battleship (BB43) which was then under construction. Many of the dock workers thought it bad luck to change the name and the idea spread to the crew, but few took it really seriously. Her commanding officer was Captain Edward J. Beach, who had earlier commanded Memphis' sister ship, the cruiser Washington. Shortly after her change of name Memphis sailed from Hampton Roads for the harbour of San Domingo. San Domingo was capital of the Caribbean Island of the same name (now the Dominican Republic). The island was in formal terms an independent state, but the government was unstable and the United States Government deemed it advisable to station Marines there to look after US interests. The Memphis was sent there to support the Marines and more generally to act as guardship. She was also flagship to the senior officer, Admiral Pond. San Domingo harbour is a very exposed anchorage, lying open to the south and east. Neither Admiral Pond nor Captain Beach much liked the anchorage, but they had to make the best of it, as Memphis was likely to be stationed there for a long time. As it was August and the hurricane season was almost upon them Captain Beach proposed to keep four boilers alight at all times to enable the ship to get out of harbour quickly if a hurricane warning should be received. However, the US Navy was in the middle of one of its periodic bouts of economising, and there was much emphasis on saving fuel costs. The Admiral therefore told Captain Beach to keep only two boilers alight (the minimum needed to run the auxiliary machinery) but to keep four other boilers ready to be lit at a moment's notice.  This arrangement was to be put to the test on the evening of 22 August. The weather started to deteriorate and the barometer fell alarmingly. Captain Beach thought that a hurricane was approaching, so he ordered the additional four boilers to be lit and all arrangements to be made for getting underway. The Admiral was entertaining the the US Ambassador. There was to have been a film show after dinner, but this was cancelled, the boats were hoisted and the Ambassador was obliged to spend the night on board. However, the hurricane did not materialise. Nonetheless the situation had provided good practice. Moreover, the preparations for the anticipated hurricane had demonstrated that steam could be raised in 40 minutes. This greatly reassured the Captain, as he expected to have much more than 40 minutes warning of any future hurricane. All was peaceful for another week. On Tuesday 29 August the day dawned fine with a light northeasterly breeze. The Admiral and Captain Beach had been invited ashore for an afternoon concert in the Cathedral but the Captain felt he had too much work to do aboard the Memphis. Admiral Pond and two aides went ashore and were met by the US consul. Memphis was as usual anchored in some 55 feet of water, with the gunboat USS Castine also anchored nearby. At 13.00 the cruiser put ahore a recreation party, consisting largely of the ship's baseball team. The party proceeded in one of the ship's boats to a point half a mile upstream in the Ozama River - near to Fort Ozama where the US Marines were billeted.  The first warning of an approaching storm was voiced by the cruiser's Executive Officer, Lt-Commander Williams. One of the ship's dinghies had capsized and he was supervising the operation of re-hoisting it when he noticed that the ship was rolling more than usual. Memphis often rolled in the afternoons when the wind got up, but he noticed that there was no wind. He therefore went below to inform the Captain. The Executive Officer was unhappy about the rising swell and told Captain Beach that he had sent two boats ashore to pick up the recreation party. The CO of the gunboat Castine - Commander Kenneth Bennett - was visiting the Captain, having come aboard Memphis for dental treatment. The three officers went on deck to assess the situation. They saw that the cruiser and the much smaller (1,600 ton) Castine were now rolling very heavily, and they did not like what they saw. Captain Beach arranged for Commander Bennett to return to Castine immediately in a Memphis boat. He also took a long look at the lee shore and could see clearly the surf breaking on the rocks. Turning to look to seaward he could see long waves rolling into the harbour from the east. This was enough to worry him, and he therefore sent a message to the Chief Engineer to raise steam in the four boilers as fast as possible. He also told Williams to make all preparations for sea and to hoist all boats. One boat had alrady gone inshore for the recreation party and a second was on its way, but the swell was rising so quickly that the Captain decided to recall this boat. Before the recall could be signalled the boat had got through the breakers near the shore and was entering the mouth of the Ozama, so the recall was in fact never made. Beach then sent a signal to the officer commanding the Marine garrison to hold both boats and to keep the party ashore for the time being.
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The following is a letter from General Nelson A. Miles to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1917 concerning the Massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890:
Washington, D. C. March 13, 1917
The Honorable Commissioner of Indian Afairs
Sir:
I am informed that there is a delegation in Washington now who came here from South Dakota and who are representatives of the remnant of what is known as the Big Foot Band of Northern Sioux Indians.
I was in command of that Department in 1889, 1890, and 1891, when what is known as the Messiah craze and threatened uprising of the Indians occurred. It was created by misrepresentations of white men then living in Nevada who sent secret messages to the different tribes in the great Northwest calling upon them to send representatives to meet Him near Walker Lake, Nevada.
This was done, and returning to their different tribes in the Northwest and West, and even in the Southwest, they repeated the false statement to the different tribes that the Messiah had returned to earth and would the next year move East,driving large herds of wild horses, buffalo, elk, deer and antelope, and was going to convert this into an Indian heaven--in other words, the Happy Hunting Grounds.
This, together with the fact that the Indians had been in almost a starving condition in South Dakota, owing to the scarcity of rations and the nonfulfillment of treaties and sacred obligations under which the Government had been placed to the Indians, caused great dissatisfaction, dissension and almost hostility. Believing this superstition, they resolved to gather and go West to meet the Messiah, as they believed it was the fulfillment of their dreams and prayer and the prophecies as had been taught them by the missionaries.
Several thousand warriors assembled in the Bad Lands of South Dakota. During this time the tribe, under Big Foot, moved from their reservation to near the Red Cloud Agency in South Dakota under a flag of truce. They numbered over four hundred souls. They were intercepted by a command under Lt. Col. Whitside, who demanded their surrender, which they complied with, and moved that afternoon some two or three miles and camped where they were directed to do, near the camp of the troops.
During the night Colonel Forsyth joined the command with reinforcements of several troops of the 7th Cavalry. The next morning he deployed his troops around the camp, placed two pieces of artillery in position, and demanded the surrender of the arms from the warriors. This was complied with by the warriors going out from camp and placing the arms on the ground where they were directed. Chief Big Foot, an old man, sick at the time and unable to walk, was taken out of a wagon and laid on the ground.
While this was being done a detachment of soldiers was sent into the camp to search for any arms remaining there, and it was reported that their rudness frightened the women and children. It is also reported that a remark was made by some one of the soldiers that "when we get the arms away from them we can do as we please with them, " indicating that they were to be destroyed. Some of the indians could understand English. this and other things alarmed the Indians and scuffle occured between one warrior who had rifle in his hand and two soldiers. The rifle was discharged and a massacre occurred, not only the warriors but the sick Chief Big Foot, and a large number of women and children who tried to escape by running and scattering over the prarie were hunted down and killed. The *official reports make the number killed 90 warriors and approximately 200 women and children.
*(Note: "Official reports" = Armys' version, actual number killed was closer to 350)
The action of the Commanding Officer, in my judgement at the time, and I so reported, was most reprehensible. The disposition of his troops was such that in firing upon the warriors they fired directly towards their own lines and also into the camp of the women and children. and I have regarded the whole affair as most unjustifiable and worthy of the severest condemnation.
In my opinion, the least the Government can do is to make a suitable recompense to the survivors who are still living for the great unjustice that was done them and the serious loss of their relatives and property--and I earnestly recommend that this may be favorably considered by the Department and by Congress and a suitable appropriation be made.
I remain
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) NELSON A. MILES
Lt. General, U. S. Army
It should be noted that 20 Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded to the soldiers of the 7th Cavalry for bravery in this "battle"... sigh...
Hi miss Feather
LOL. The guy who sold me my house was a former Golden Knight.
An excellent book on it was written by his son, CAPT Edward L. Beach, Jr. It's called "The Wreck of the MEMPHIS" and was published in 1966.
So good, you feel like your going through the hell those boys went through.
Pat
I'm a member of the Presbyterian Church, USA, where the liberals continue to fight a decades-long war to unseat the Bible as the basis of our faith and install secularism and socialist ideas. The laity has mostly defeated them, but they will not accept the will of the majority and just keep fighting. It's really sad that a church so closely associated with the American founding has been reduced to this by the liberals.
To view go digitalglobe.com
FYI: I think they're getting a lot of hits so download time might be slow.
I also didn't know Capt. Beach wrote "Run Silent, Run Deep," a really good story and on of the best submarine movies. I thought the Bungo Straits had to be a made-up name - until I found out it's a real place!
I laid the tiles on the floor with the spacers in place, took a perma marker and drew around them, removed the tiles, then starting cutting the carpet out of the space.
Grouting is next.
Dennis and I had planned to replace the carpet which is badly worn this next year. But that won't happen now, so this mini face lift will help improve the looks of the door area. I'd already painted the door a dark taupe with a lighter taupe around the small window in the door.
Freeper fastattacksailor pointed out that Captain Edward Beach's middle initial was "L" not "J".
Sorry for not catching that error before posting. That's what I get for rushing.
There were a lot of MOH's awarded that weren't really deserved early on. I know the requirements have been considerably tightened up.
IIRC, there were a buttload of CMHs given out for actions at Little Big Horn, too (which, I'm pretty sure there were several acts of bravery - especially those guys who had to go get water. That had to suck...) which I believe several of them were recinded later, since they didn't quite meet the bar...
Bit giving them out for what happened at Wounded Knee? That was a farce...
Thanks fastattacksailor.
Another book to add to my reading list.
Was there a jump tower in the back yard?
I believe his son wrote the book.
I remember the Clark Gable movie, seen that a few times.
Glad to hear the project went well. You must be doing something right, mine never turn out easy.
I agree with you there, I also think there'as a move by the Lakota to have the US Army Battle Streamer recinded for Wounded Knee.
I believe the 7th Cav refers to it as "The Battle of Pine Ridge" on their streamer...
Ad-aware (make sure it is Lavasoft, there are bad imposters)
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
and Spybot Search and Destroy, PepiMK Software,
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
work well and are free downloads. Spybot can dig out several of the Cool Web Search variants, which are really tenacious. Download as files to the disk, shut down your computer normally and then restart in safe mode, and install and run them.
Install and set up in the start menu folder Spywareblaster. This will run continuously in the background and block spyware in operation. Works well.
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/products.html
These all update manually in the free versions. Update once a week or so.
I also browse with Firefox with the Java turned off. Firefox does not accept ActiveX scripts. Obviously many web sites won't work properly under these conditions, but why leave the front and the rear doors open all the time, but instead unlock them after consideration?
Javacool also has a Beta SpywareGuard, which I will report on after I have run it for a while. Supposed to do very good stuff.
Good luck on your infestation. I think Spybot will get it out.
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