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Posted on 01/19/2005 9:47:42 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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When an overzealous Union captain stopped and searched the British vessel Trent, a full-blown diplomatic crisis erupted between the United States and Great Britain. Interested Southerners watched with glee.  As U.S. Navy Lieutenant D.M. Fairfax stood in the bow of a bobbing whaleboat at midday of November 8, 1861, he was faced with a dilemma. Ahead loomed the bulk of the British mail steamer Trent. His orders were to remove--forcibly if necessary--two Confederate agents on their way to London. He was also to seize the vessel as a prize of war. Either act, he believed, could lead to war between the United States and Britain. Yet the instructions received from his commanding officer were explicit. Fairfax's confusion stemmed from several factors, most notably Britain's declaration of neutrality in May 1861 and its recognition of the Northern and Southern states as formal belligerents. Such a dictate opened British ports to Confederate shipping as well as Northern. Likewise, British munitions and supplies could be transported by Union or Rebel vessels to North American ports.  Captain Charles D. Wilkes To many observers and politicians in the North, however, London's declaration was but a short step away from recognizing the Confederate states as a sovereign nation. The Richmond government banked on the hope that both France and England could be induced to accept the Confederacy into the family of nations because of the need for Southern cotton by European mills. Prior to the Civil War, England and Continental Europe imported from 80 to 85 percent of its cotton from the South. Nearly one-fifth of the British population earned its livelihood from the cotton industry, while one-tenth of Britain's capital was invested in it as well. There was good reason for the South to court the European governments. Confederate President Jefferson Davis assigned a pair of trusted political cronies to represent the South in London and Paris. James M. Mason, a former senator from Virginia, had gained experience as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. His assignment as minister to Britain was not to beg "for material aid or alliances offensive and defensive but for. . . a recognized place as a free and independent people."  John Slidell Sixty-eight-year-old John Slidell was to transact diplomatic business with France. A wily politician, Slidell had served as a Louisiana senator and had only minor diplomatic experience in previous dealings with Mexico. He was, however, fluent in French. Both Mason and Slidell hurried to Charleston, S.C., to gain passage on the fast blockade runner Nashville. Accompanying them were two secretaries, James E. Macfarland and George Eustis, as well as members of Slidell's family. When they reached Charleston in early October 1861, they found several Union warships blockading the harbor just beyond the range of Confederate coastal defense guns. Though armed, Nashville was too weak to provoke a battle with Yankee cruisers and usually relied on speed to sneak past picket ships. Realizing the dangers of trying to run the blockade, Mason and Slidell opted for going overland through Texas and into Mexico, where they hoped they could book passage on a British ship to take them to London. Before they could attempt the journey, however, the captain of a shallow-draft coastal packet, Gordon, offered to take the diplomats to Cuba, where British vessels regularly docked.  James M. Mason, Confederate Envoy to England Rain squalls buffeted Charleston as Gordon slipped from her quay just after midnight on October 12. The little ship, packed with coal and passengers, threaded its way through shallow waters where the deep-draft Nashville could not have gone. The storms and darkness served as perfect cover as the Rebels slid past Federal blockaders and steamed toward the open sea. "Here we are," Mason wrote gleefully, "on the deep blue sea; clear of all the Yankees. We ran the blockade in splendid style." To confuse prowling Federal cruisers, Gordon's name was changed to Theodora. The packet sailed into Nassau, in the Bahamas, where the Confederates had hoped a British vessel might be docked. When they discovered that English mail ships could be anchored at Cuba, Theodora did an about-face and steamed southwest.
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On this Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on January 20:
1716 Carlos III king of Naples/Spain (1759-88) Pompei/Jesuits
1732 Richard H Lee US farmer (signed Declaration of Independence)
1763 Theobald Wolfe Tone Irish patriot
1806 Nathaniel Willis writer/editor/founder (American Monthly Magazine)
1812 Ralph Pomeroy Buckland Brevet Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1892
1813 Jacon Gartner Lauman Brevet Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1867
1820 Anne Jemima Clough England, promoted higher education for women
1844 Johan Peter Selmer composer
1847 W R Pettiford Founder (Alabama Penny Savings Bank)
1883 Betram Home Ramsay English admiral/Commander Allied Naval Forces
1884 AP Merritt US, sci-fi author (Moon Pool, Creep Shadow!)
1889 Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter Mooringsport LA, blues 12 string guitarist (Rock Island Line)
1894 Harold L Gray creator (Little Orphan Annie) ARF
1896 George Burns [Nathan Birnbaum], New York City NY, actor/comedian (Oh God)
1903 Leon Ames Portland Indiana, actor (Mr Ed, Father of the Bride)
1915 Joe Hitchcock darts player (leader of St Dunstan's Four)
1920 DeForest Kelley Atlanta GA, actor (Dr McCoy-Star Trek)
1920 Federico Fellini Rimini Italy, director (8½, Satyricon, La Dolce Vita)
1926 Patricia Neal Packard KY, actress (Hud, Subject Was Roses)
1928 Martin Landau Brooklyn NY, actor (Mission Impossible, Tucker, Space 1999)
1929 Arte Johnson Chicago IL, comedian (Laugh-in, Don't Call Me Charlie)
1930 Edwin E "Buzz" Aldrin Jr Montclair NJ, USAF/astronaut (Gemini 12, Apollo 11)
1934 Tom Baker actor (Dr. Who) Have a jellybaby
1942 Slim Whitman yodeler/country singer (Home on the Range)
1946 David Lynch Missoula MT, actor/director (Blue Velvet, Dune, Eraserhead, Twin Peaks)
1948 Jerry L Ross Indiana, Lieutenant-Colonel USAF/astronaut (STS 61B, 27, 37, 55, 74, 88)
1948 Anatoly(Natan) Shcharansky Soviet human rights activist/émigré/author
1955 Joe Doherty Ireland, IRA activist (jailed in US)
1956 Bill Maher comedian(?) (He used to be someone)
1956 John McNally Naha Okinawa, US rapid fire pistol (Olympics-84, 88, 92, 96)
1966 Tia Carrere Honolulu HI, actress (Wayne's World, General Hospital)
1971 Karin Smith Miss Minnesota USA (1996)
We're watching live coverage of the Presidential Inaugaration.
For those running errands many radio stations are also carrying live coverage. Just tune into a station to listen in.
We're forecast to hit near 70 today.
How's it going, Snippy?
John Slidell
(1793 - 1871)
Born in New York City, N.Y., 1793, the Northern-born Slidell rose to prominence as a Louisiana politician in the decades before the Civil War. A lawyer who began his career as a businessman, he moved to New Orleans in 1819 after his mercantile interests failed during the War of 1812.
Slidell lost a bid for Congress in 1828 and was frustrated in his political ambitions until 1843, when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. As a states-rights Democrat he supported James K. Polk for the presidency in 1844 and used questionable legal means to assure him a Louisiana majority in the presidential election. Polk appointed Slidell commissioner to Mexico, with instructions to settle the Texas-Mexico boundary dispute and purchase New Mexico and California. The mission failed when the Mexican government refused to accept his credentials.
Slidell was elected to the Senate in 1853 and cast his lot with other pro-Southern congressmen to repeal the Missouri Compromise, acquire Cuba, and admit Kansas under the Lecompton constitution. In the 1860 campaign Slidell supported Democratic presidential candidate John C. Breckinridge, but remained a pro-Union moderate until Abraham Lincoln's election pushed the Southern states into seceding. Siding with the South, Slidell accepted a diplomatic appointment to represent the Confederacy in France.
His arrival in Europe was delayed by the TRENT AFFAIR, when he and fellow diplomat James M. Mason were removed from their British-registered ship by the commander of a Federal vessel. Once there, he found the French sympathetic to the Confederate cause, but met with little success in securing extensive military aid or the Franco-Confederate treaty of alliance he sought. Slidell remained in France lobbying throughout the war. Though he was never able to accomplish a Franco-Confederate liaison, and though many of his Confederate colleagues distrusted him, Slidell, through his political abilities and bolstered by his marriage to a Louisiana Creole woman, arranged some Confederate financing through private French interests.
Uncertain of his safety at home after the war, Slidell and his family stayed in Paris. He never sought pardon from the Federal government for his Confederate service, dying in London, England, 29 July 1871.
Source: Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War
MASON, James Murray, (1798 - 1871)
We're forecast to hit near 70 today
So are we...next May. :-)
Thanks for the history lesson today, good tagline too!
I like root beer but my favorite drink is Pepsi. In Atlanta, home of Coca-Cola, there wasn't a Pepsi to be found. Some folks say there is no difference, I don't think they have taste buds.
Good morning alfa6.
LOL. It's me!
Good morning Aeronaut.
Good morning EGC. Enjoy the festivities today. Those poor folks on the parade route are heartier than me. Too cold.
Good morning Mayor.
ROTFLOL.
ROFLMAO at your tagline.
Goin' my way?
This may not be the proper place to post this but I shall give it a try. Would any of you happen to know what the standard rifle of the West German Army in 1972-1973 was? I earned a shooting medal from them that I was able to wear on my uniform as long as I was in 7th Army, but have no idea what the weapon was I shot!
Thank you for any help.
Hi there! Listening to the speech right now.
Howdy ma'am
I miss long John Silvers. :-(
Got it on the radio.
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