The FReeper Foxhole Profiles George Washington's Final Days - Feb. 27th, 2005

see educational sources

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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.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.


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George Washington's Final Days



George Washington had fought and won a war, served two terms as the new nation's first president, and kept that nation on an even keel. After all that, could he be satisfied with retirement on his country estate?

By John Ferling



Festive crowds had greeted George Washington on many occasions when he traveled in and out of the capital city. Yet on this crisp, clear March morning, he and his wife Martha rode almost unnoticed as their carriage rattled across the brick and cobblestone streets of Philadelphia. John Adams was president now, and the Washingtons were leaving for Mount Vernon, their home in Virginia.

George Washington was delighted to be leaving public office. He was 65 years old and anxious to spend the remainder of his life away from the stress and responsibilities of the presidency. He believed he was near the end of his life; few people at that time lived past their mid-sixties, and many men in Washington's family had died at a relatively young age--four of his brothers and his father had died while in their thirties or forties.

Following Adams' inauguration on March 4, 1797, Washington had remained in the President's Mansion for another five days, while his successor stayed at a local boarding house. He helped Martha pack 97 boxes and 14 trunks, and twice called on Adams. The Washingtons said goodbye to old acquaintances and enjoyed a last-minute shopping spree just before departing the city. Martha bought shoes and furniture, and George purchased wine, nuts, medicine, a smoking jacket, and a new pair of glasses.



When the couple arrived at Mount Vernon, Washington quickly settled into the routine he had always practiced while living there. Rising before the sun, he read or tended to his correspondence until about 7:30 a.m., when he emerged from his library for a light breakfast. He then rode about the plantation, talked to his farm manager and overseers, and inspected operations. He returned to the mansion in the afternoon for the day's second, and largest, meal, one that frequently lasted up to two hours. Before nightfall, Washington often toured the gardens and visited the stables and carriage house near the mansion or returned to his library. In the evening he rejoined the family for a light meal, often cheese, bread, fruit, and a glass of wine, and usually retired before 10:00 p.m.

Colleagues often spoke of Washington's "retirement," a term that he also used on occasion. In reality, Washington had not retired; he had merely left public life. Now he managed his personal business interests, which included Mount Vernon's labor force of more than 300 slaves. He enjoyed this lifestyle and sometimes spoke of these pursuits as his "occupation and amusement."



Washington thought of himself as a planter, although in eighteenth-century Virginia that term described those who earned their livelihood from growing tobacco. According to that definition, Washington was not a planter. He had nearly phased out tobacco production at Mount Vernon 30 years earlier, substituting grains, flax, and hemp.

Furthermore, much of Washington's attention was directed toward non-agricultural concerns, and the majority of Mount Vernon's workers never went near a hoe or plow. Some were trained as skilled artisans and labored on the estate as blacksmiths, carpenters, and masons. Others were assigned to one of the property's five stills that produced nearly 12,000 gallons of corn whiskey annually. Some worked in the sawmill, gristmill, and on one of Washington's two fishing vessels that sailed the Potomac River. Numerous women labored as domestics or made clothing.



Through a series of complicated land deals that included both sales and exchanges of western property, Washington realized nearly $50,000 during the last five years of his life (the equivalent of approximately $750,000 in today's currency). In July 1799, he assessed the thousands of acres that he owned at $488,000. Nevertheless, as shrewd and successful a businessman as he was, Washington was aware of the vicissitudes and uncertainties of business. He worried about his and Martha's economic security, so he decided to lease most of Mount Vernon's land, which would leave him with a steady income. He had originally launched the search for tenants in 1793, but every promising lead had come to nothing.

Washington had resolved to lease the property only if he found "peaceable, industrious, and skilled" tenants who would employ free African-American laborers, for he wanted to free his slaves and permit them to live and work as hired hands at Mount Vernon. Prior to the War of Independence, Washington never contemplated such an action, but by 1783 he had become uncomfortable in his role as a slave owner.

Although Washington was happy in retirement, he had not been at Mount Vernon long before he complained that he lacked time to meet his responsibilities. Dealing with his correspondence was especially time-consuming. He was inundated with unsolicited letters, the majority of which he tried to answer, averaging about one letter every day. Many were lengthy missives, containing carefully crafted sentences to ensure the style was correct and that he had expressed himself with clarity. Business trips also occupied his time. He undertook journeys to inspect nearby land that he had recently bought. Business frequently took him to Alexandria, sometimes for meetings of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Alexandria. Less often, Washington traveled to Georgetown for meetings of the Board of Directors of the Potomac Company (formed in 1784 to develop a canal that would link the trans-Appalachian frontier to the Chesapeake Bay). He made several trips to the Federal City--many were already calling it Washington--to look into investment opportunities.



Washington's time was also taken up by the incessant parade of visitors who came to Mount Vernon. Hundreds of wayfarers stayed overnight during the 30 months of Washington's retirement. So many came that once Washington noted in his diary, "I am alone at present . . . . Unless someone pops in, unexpectedly--Mrs. Washington and myself will do what I believe has not been done within the last twenty years by us--that is to set down to dinner by ourselves."

Mount Vernon took on the air of a hotel. The stream of visitors included foreign dignitaries and old acquaintances from the war years, or their children or siblings. Even one of Washington's former Continental army bodyguards dropped in. Business associates, Virginia politicians, and relatives called on him. Some guests were total strangers and, on occasion, Washington did not even know the name of the person he was hosting.



Many affluent Americans sent their sons to Mount Vernon for the same reason that subsequent generations sent their children to Europe. A visit to Mount Vernon was regarded as the capstone of a young man's education, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be in the presence of the greatest American luminary and to see the most famous residence in the land. The demands on his time were so great that during his first year at home, Washington persuaded Lawrence Lewis, the son of his sister Betty, to move to Mount Vernon in order to "ease me of the trouble of entertaining company." As surrogate host, Lawrence led guided tours, dined with visitors, and chatted with the company in the evening.

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FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links

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Finding beds for the visitors was challenging, as the mansion bulged at the seams with permanent residents. Domestic servants, a housekeeper, and a clerk had quarters in the house. Nelly and George Washington Parke Custis, teenage grandchildren from Martha's first marriage, also lived at Mount Vernon. Nelly, who was regarded as a beautiful and lustrous young woman, was the apple of her grandfather's eye. To Washington's delight, she chose to be married at Mount Vernon on his birthday (February 22) in 1799. Nelly's brother, however, caused Washington to despair. Wash, as he was called, flunked out of the College of Philadelphia (later the University of Pennsylvania) and Princeton and dropped out of St. John's College in Annapolis after a brief stay.

Although Washington commented on political matters in his private correspondence, he insisted that he would never again return to public service. Many people did not think he could stay away. Eliza Powel, the widow of a prominent Philadelphian and a close family friend, candidly told him that he would be unable to adjust to life on a remote farm after the excitement of the war and presidency. She was wrong about that--Washington obviously loved his life at Mount Vernon--although her suspicions that he soon would be back in the thick of public affairs proved correct.



Washington returned during the "Quasi-War," a national emergency in 1798. When trade disputes threatened a conflict with France, President Adams made preparations for war, including the creation of a provisional army of 20,000 fighting men. In July 1798 Adams dispatched Secretary of War James McHenry to Mount Vernon to implore Washington to take command of the army.

Washington immediately accepted the appointment on the condition that he could remain at Mount Vernon until the French actually threatened to invade. That was acceptable to Adams, and probably not unanticipated. Washington did travel to Philadelphia on November 5, however, for planning meetings with McHenry. He did not return to Mount Vernon until just before Christmas 1798. Shortly after Washington left Philadelphia, Adams, who once had said that he thought the prospect of seeing the French army in America was about as great as seeing it in Heaven, announced a diplomatic mission to France to seek a peaceful solution to the imbroglio. The sense of crisis swiftly diminished in 1799, and Washington's interest once again turned to farming and business.

It was a busy time for Washington. He took an inventory of his work force, which included 317 slaves. Many were dower slaves, but he held clear, legal title to more than 200 chattel. Then he prepared a new will, terminating the one he had drawn up on the eve of the War of Independence. He bequeathed the use of his estate to his wife. He also awarded Martha all of the mansion's furnishings, property in Alexandria, and the profits from the sales of his land and businesses. He deeded Mount Vernon to Bushrod Washington, his nephew, whom Adams had recently appointed to the United States Supreme Court. He allocated his remaining possessions to nearly 40 people, including approximately 9,000 acres that was to be divided among more than 20 relatives. He gave his Potomac Company stock to a university planned for the Federal District. Finally, he decreed that Billy Lee--his body servant throughout the war--be manumitted and awarded an annual pension of $30 immediately upon his owner's death. The remainder of the slaves were to be freed upon his death, or Martha's should she survive him.



Washington remained in such excellent health, however, that he began to plan another arduous trip for the spring of 1800 to inspect his frontier properties in the vicinity of present-day Charleston, West Virginia. In fact, when illness first invaded the mansion in 1799, it was Martha who collapsed and was briefly thought to be at death's door. A physician diagnosed her malady as an "Ague & fever" and treated her with quinine. Subsequently describing herself as "so very sick," Martha was incapacitated from August into October.

While she was recuperating, Washington learned of the death of his last surviving brother, Charles. Not one male in the family had lived to be 70. Nevertheless, Washington, now approaching his sixty-eighth birthday, appears to have been lighthearted that autumn and was thrilled when word arrived that Nelly had safely given birth to her first child on November 27. Washington was busy and looking toward the future. He drafted a four-year plan of operations at Mount Vernon and, in a letter written on the last day that he enjoyed good health, urged Alexander Hamilton, his aide-de-camp during the War of Independence and later his Secretary of the Treasury, to work for the establishment of a national military academy.



Washington wrote that letter on December 12, at the end of a long, cold day that he had spent out-of-doors. He had ridden out in mid-morning under heavy, gray skies. Around noon snow began to fall. Later, the snow turned to sleet, and still later to a cold rain. Washington remained outside for more than five hours, and according to Tobias Lear, his secretary, did not change out of his wet clothes or dry his hair when he returned home.

Washington awoke the following morning with a sore throat. Although he was not especially alarmed, he remained inside most of the day, except for a brief spell when he tagged trees that he wanted to have removed. By nightfall his voice had grown hoarse, but otherwise he felt fine. That evening Washington read the newspaper and listened as Lear read an account of recent debates in the Virginia assembly. He was in good spirits when he retired around 10:00 p.m.

When Washington awoke about four or five hours later, his breathing was labored, and he felt desperately ill. He roused Martha, but would not permit her to summon a physician. By dawn, his condition had further deteriorated. Unable to swallow and barely able to breathe, Washington asked Martha to send for an overseer who treated his slaves and was experienced in bleeding, a standard medical remedy of the time. Meanwhile, Lear sent for Dr. James Craik, who lived nearby and had attended Washington for more than 40 years.

The overseer arrived at 7:30 a.m. and drew off a half-pint of Washington's blood in the useless and dangerous procedure. When Craik arrived he diagnosed Washington's malady as quinsy, or a peritonsillar abscess. There is a greater likelihood that Washington had been struck down by a streptococcus infection, an ailment that results in asphyxia as the swelling about the glottis inhibits breathing. Craik may have been mistaken in his diagnosis, but he appreciated the seriousness of his patient's condition and immediately sent for Dr. Gustavus Richard Brown of Port Tobacco and Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick of nearby Alexandria, hoping that one of the doctors would arrive while there was still time to save Washington.



Both physicians reached Mount Vernon by mid-afternoon and attempted a variety of expedients. They immersed their patient's feet in warm water and wrapped his throat with a compress that had been soaked in a medication. Later, they applied a blister (a local irritant) made of cantharides--Spanish fly--and concocted a vaporizer. Washington tried without success to gargle a mixture of molasses, vinegar, and butter prescribed by his doctors. Throughout the day the doctors applied poultices of wheat bran and administered two laxatives. Washington was bled three more times, the last time against the strong objections of Dr. Dick, the youngest of the three doctors and a former apprentice of Dr. Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia, America's foremost physician. Instead, Dick proposed a delicate operation to open the trachea below the site of the infection, enabling Washington to breathe. He was outvoted, however, by his colleagues, who viewed surgery as too dangerous and who, perhaps, also feared attempting such a hazardous expedient on their famous patient.

Washington steadily deteriorated. He sat in a chair in front of the fireplace during the morning but returned to bed at about 11:00 a.m., never to arise again. Around 5:00 p.m. Washington, with great difficulty, told all present that he knew he was dying and asked that his doctors do no more. He had been aware of his fate since first awakening in the darkness of early morning, he said. "I die hard, but I am not afraid to go," he whispered at about 8:00 p.m. For two hours the only sounds were his labored breathing. Then he stirred. "I am just going," he said to Lear. "Have me decently buried, and do not let my body be put into the vault in less than two days after I am dead." Martha, Lear, the doctors, and Christopher Sheels, his body servant, stayed with him, listening and watching in anxious silence. At about 10:30 p.m. on December 14, 1799, George Washington, aged 67, drew his final, difficult breath.

The following day, Lear arranged for a coffin to be constructed in Alexandria. Slaves opened and cleaned the family's modest brick vault, located a few hundred feet from the mansion. Mount Vernon's female domestic servants worked longer hours than usual, making mourning clothes, baking cakes, preparing punch, and attending the first mourners who descended on the estate. On the clear, cold morning of December 18, slaves placed Washington's open casket on a wooden bier on the portico above the Potomac River. From noon onward, several hundred guests viewed the body.

At 3:00 p.m. a schooner on the Potomac fired a salute, and the procession to the gravesite commenced, led by troops from Alexandria, whose band played a dirge. Four lieutenants in the Virginia militia carried the black-draped coffin. Clergymen, representatives from the Masonic Order, approximately 100 militiamen, Washington's closest neighbors, and his horse, led by two postilions, accompanied the family downhill. The ceremony at the tomb included both the Episcopalian Order of Burial and full Masonic rites, after which 11 nearby cannon blasted a deafening, smoky salute.

As news of Washington's death reached beyond the Potomac, memorial services were held in every state, as well as in France and Holland, the two European nations that had recognized the United States during the War of Independence. When word arrived in Philadelphia, President Adams ordered a period of official mourning, and the clerk of the House of Representatives entered in that body's journal: "Our Washington is no more." A few days later



Congress resolved to have Washington's remains transferred to the Federal City and buried beneath a marble monument in the Capitol. Martha consented, but funds were not appropriated for 30 years, and the project was never undertaken.

Observances of Washington's death varied. Local pastors conducted simple services in many small towns. College presidents preached funeral sermons on many campuses. Most cities held elaborate commemorative services. An Episcopalian bishop presided at the memorial in Williamsburg, while a Catholic bishop conducted a solemn mass in Washington's memory at St. Peter's in Baltimore. In Boston, which Washington's Continental army had liberated from British occupation in March 1776, nearly a quarter of the city's 30,000 inhabitants processed through the streets. Philadelphia reproduced the ceremony conducted at Mount Vernon, with military units accompanying a coffin and riderless horse to a Lutheran church for a mock funeral. Citizens paid their respects to the soldier whom they mourned as the man most responsible for the American victory in the War of Independence and to the leader who never abused the power entrusted to him.

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Today's Educational Sources and suggestions for further reading:
This article was written by John Ferling and originally published in the December 1999 issue of American History Magazine.
John Ferling, professor of history at the State University of West Georgia, is the author of biographies of Washington and John Adams and Setting the World Ablaze: Washington, Adams, and Jefferson in the American Revolution.
Snippys note: An excellent book worth reading!

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

Thanks to quietolong for providing this link.

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We here at Blue Stars For A Safe Return are working hard to honor all of our military, past and present, and their families. Inlcuding the veterans, and POW/MIA's. I feel that not enough is done to recognize the past efforts of the veterans, and remember those who have never been found.

I realized that our Veterans have no "official" seal, so we created one as part of that recognition. To see what it looks like and the Star that we have dedicated to you, the Veteran, please check out our site.

Veterans Wall of Honor

Blue Stars for a Safe Return

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NOW UPDATED THROUGH JULY 31st, 2004




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

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

LINK TO FOXHOLE THREADS INDEXED by PAR35

[SAMWolf]

Good Night Snippy.

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Snippy.

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, snippy and everyone at the foxhole.

[alfa6]

It's a Sunday bump for the Foxhole

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[GailA]

Good morning

[Samwise]

It sounds like Washington's doctors killed him.

We loved our visit to Mount Vernon. The view of the Potomac is incredible. I wouldn't mind spending retirement in a rocking chair on the back terrace. Hundreds of visitors would, however, be run off the property.

[Iris7]

General Washington was the greatest man to ever be President of the United States.

I use to have real hope that George W. Bush might become the greatest of all Presidents, and he still may. President Bush has a real lock on #2, I think. Takes a hundred, hundred and fifty years, to really tell.

[The Mayor]

February 27, 2005

Our Creator

Read:
Genesis 1

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. -Genesis 1:1

Bible In One Year: Numbers 34-36

The Bible's first chapter addresses the most fundamental issues of life. It declares that God brought all things into existence. This should affect the way we live.

The writer of Genesis made the radical declaration that there is one God. That truth stood in sharp contrast to the polytheism and idolatry of the ancient world. The description of each creation day denounced the various gods worshiped by the pagans of Moses' day and declared that they were not gods at all-just creations of the one and only true and living God.

On day 1, gods of light and darkness are dismissed; day 2, gods of sea and sky; day 3, gods of earth and vegetation; day 4, sun, moon, and star gods; days 5 and 6, animal gods. And finally, humans. Even though all people are granted a divine likeness, they too are only created beings and must never be worshiped.

This account gives the foundation for Israel's covenant with God. For example, why do the Ten Commandments prohibit the worship of other gods? Because God alone is the maker of heaven and earth. Why is murder wrong? Because human beings are created in God's image.

Let's make it our goal to get to know the true and living God. -Haddon Robinson

So many gods have all come and gone,
Gods of earth, of sky, and of sea;
But God the Creator alone will stand
Tests of time and eternity. -Carbaugh

In the beginning-God.

FOR FURTHER STUDY
How Can I Know There Is A God?
Celebrating The Wonder Of Creation

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on February 27:
0280 Constantine the Great Roman emperor (306-37), adopted Christianity
1702 Johann Valentin Gorner composer
1792 Don Joaquin B F Espartero Spanish adventurer/field marshal
1807 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Portland ME, poet (Hiawatha)
1823 Ferdinand Van Derveer Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1892
1823 William Buel Franklin Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1903
1827 Richard W Johnson Brevet Major General (Union Army), died in 1897
1832 Alfred Pollard Edward Civil War journalist, died in 1872
1847 Dame Ellen Alice Terry Coventry England, Shakespearian stage actress
1867 Irving Fisher US economist (compensating dollar)
1869 Alice Hamilton physician/writer (workmen's compensation laws)
1886 Hugo L Black Alabama, (Senator-D-AL)/78th US Supreme Court justice (1937-71)
1891 David Sarnoff US, radio/TV pioneer/CEO (RCA)
1892 William Demarest St Paul MN, actor (Uncle Charlie-My 3 Sons)
1897 G Paul H Schuitema graphic designer/photographer (System-O-Color)
1899 Charles H Best Maine, physiologist/co-discoverer of diabetes treatment (Insulin)
1902 John Steinbeck Salinas CA, author (Grapes of Wrath-Nobel 1962)
1902 Marian Anderson singer, banned by D A R
1904 James Thomas Farrell US, author (Studs Lonigan trilogy)
1910 Joan Bennett Palisades NJ, actress (Elizabeth-Dark Shadows, Little Women, Disraeli)
1917 John B Connally Jr Floresville TX, (Governor/Senator-D/R-TX), Wounded in the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy
1923 Dexter Gordon US, tenor saxophonist/actor (Connection)
1930 Joanne Woodward Thomasville GA, actress (3 Faces of Eve, Rachel)
1932 Elizabeth Taylor London, actress (Cleopatra, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof , National Velvet)
1934 Ralph Nader Winsted CT, consumer advocate-left-wing blowhard (Unsafe at Any Speed)
1936 Roger M Mahoney Hollywood CA, archbishop of Los Angeles (1985- )
1942 Charlayne Hunter-Gault Due West SC, news reporter (McNeil-Lehrer)
1951 Lee Atwater Republican National Committee Chairman (1989-91)
1957 Adrian Smith heavy metal guitarist (Iron Maiden-Aces High)
1975 Dana Marie Lane Cheyenne WY, Miss Wyoming-America (1995)
1980 Chelsea Victoria Clinton Daughter of Bill & Hillary Clinton

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Deaths which occurred on February 27:
1167 Robert of Melun English philosopher/bishop of Hereford, dies
1733 Johann Adam Birkenstock composer, dies at 46
1844 Nicholas Biddle US lawyer/diplomat/statesman/financier, dies at 85
1936 Ivan P Pavlov Russian physiologist (reflexes, Nobel 1904), dies at 86
1939 Nadezjda K Krupskaya Russian revolutionary/wife of Lenin, dies at 70
1974 Pat Brady Toledo OH, actor (Roy Rogers Show), dies at 59
1985 Henry Cabot Lodge (Senator-R)/diplomat, dies at 82
1992 S I Hayakawa (Senator-R-CA, 1977-83), dies from a stroke at 85
1993 José Duval actor (Juan Valdez), dies at 72
1993 Lillian Gish US actress (Birth of a Nation), dies at 96
1993 Ruby Keeler actress (42nd Street), dies of cancer at 83
1998 J T Walsh actor (Good Morning Vietnam, Sling Blade), dies from a heart attack at 54
2003 Frederick Rogers [Mr. Rogers] children's television host, dies from stomach cancer at 74

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1967 ALWAN HAROLD J.---PEORIA IL.
1968 HARTZHEIM JOHN F.---APPLETON WI.
[REMAINS IDENTIFIED 03/17/99]
1968 MILIUS PAUL L.---WAVERLY IA.
1968 PALMER GILBERT S.---BIRMINGHAM AL.
1968 WRIGHT THOMAS T.---GARY IN.
1971 BABCOCK RONALD L.---TUCSON AZ.
1971 LEWIS LARRY G.---ASHVILLE NC.
1971 MOONEY FRED---NORTHUP OH.

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

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On this day...
0837 15th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
1526 Saxony & Hesse form League of Gotha (league of Protestant princes)
1531 Evangelical German monarchy/towns form Schmalkaldische Union
1557 1st Russian Embassy opens in London
1563 William Byrd is appointed organist at Lincoln Cathedral
1594 Henri IV crowned king of France
1670 Jews are expelled from Austria by order of Leopold I
1801 Washington DC placed under Congressional jurisdiction
1813 1st federal vaccination legislation enacted
1813 Congress authorizes use of steamboats to transport mail
1814 Ludwig von Beethovens 8th Symphony in F, premieres
1827 1st Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans LA
1861 Warsaw Massacre Russians fire on crowd demonstrating against Russian rule of Poland
1864 Near Andersonville GA, rebels open a new POW camp "Camp Sumter"
1864 6th & last day of Battle at Dalton, Georgia (about 600 casualties)
1865 Civil War skirmish near Sturgeon MO
1869 John Menard is 1st black to make a speech in Congress
1872 Charlotte Ray, 1st Black woman lawyer, graduated Harvard U
1874 Baseball 1st played in England, at Lord's Cricket Grounds
1877 US Electoral College declares R Hayes winner Presidential election
1879 Constantine Fahlberg discovers saccharin (artificial sweetener)
1883 Oscar Hammerstein patents 1st cigar-rolling machine
1890 D Needham & P Kerrigan box 100 rounds (6 hours 39 minutes), San Francisco; match is draw
1901 NL Rules Committee decrees that all fouls are to count as strikes except after two strikes
1908 Star #46 was added to US flag for Oklahoma
1912 Lord Kitchener opens Khartoum-El Obeid (Nyala) railway
1919 1st public performance of Holst's "The Planets"
1919 American Association for the Hard of Hearing formed (New York NY)
1922 Supreme Court unanimously upheld 19th amend woman's right to vote
1925 Hitler resurrects NSDAP political party in Munich
1929 Russia & US sign trade agreement
1932 Glass-Steagall Act passed, giving the Federal Reserve the right to expand credit in order to increase money circulation.
1933 German parliament building, Reichstag, destroyed by fire (set by Nazis, blamed on communists)
1938 Britain & France recognize Franco government in Spain
1939 Supreme Court outlaws sit-down strikes
1942 Battle of Java Sea began 13 US warships sunk-2 Japanese
1942 1st transport of French Jews to Nazi-Germany
1946 4th "Road" film, "Road to Utopia" premieres (New York NY)
1950 General Chiang Kai-shek elected President of Nationalist China
1951 22nd amendment to the Constitution is ratified, limiting President to 2 terms in office
1953 F-84 Thunderjets raided North Korean base on Yalu River.
1956 Elvis Presley's releases "Heartbreak Hotel"
1957 Premiere of only prime-time network TV show beginning with an "X" "Xavier Cugat Show" on NBC (until X-Files)
1962 South-Vietnam President Ngo Dinh Diem's palace bombed, 1st US killed
1963 Mickey Mantle of New York Yankees sign a baseball contract worth $100,000
1968 CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite‘s commentary on the progress of the Vietnam War said: "Who won and who lost in the great Tet Offensive against the cities? I‘m not sure." He concluded: "It is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out...will be to negotiate, not as victors but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could."
1969 General Hafez al-Assad becomes head of Syria via military coup
1972 President Nixon & Chinese Premier Chou En-lai issued Shanghai Communique
1973 American Indian Movement occupy Wounded Knee in South Dakota
1975 House of Representatives pass $21.3 billion anti-recession tax-cut bill
1977 Keith Richards gets suspended sentence for heroin possession, Canada
1980 Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF wins elections in Zimbabwe
1981 Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder record "Ebony & Ivory"
1982 Wayne Williams found guilty of murdering 2 of 28 blacks in Atlanta GA
1988 Bonnie Blair (US) wins Olympics 500 meter speed skating in record 39.1
1988 Katarina Witt (GDR) wins 2nd consecutive Olympics figure skating
1988 Gulfstream G-IV goes around the world 36 hrs.
1990 Exxon Corp & Exxon Shipping are indicted on 5 criminal counts (Valdez)
1991 Singer James Brown is released from prison
1991 Gulf War ends after Iraqi troops retreat & Kuwait is liberated
1994 Maronite church near Beirut bombed, 10 killed
1995 Car bomb explodes in Zakho, North-Iraq (54-80 killed)
1998 FBI arrests 10 most wanted suspected serial killer Tony Ray Amati
1998 New England Patriot David Meggett arrested in Toronto on sex assault charges
2002 Indian Muslim attackers set fire to a train carrying Hindu nationalists and 58 were killed as the Sabarmati Express left Godhra, Gujarat state. Hindu nationalists went rampaging and at least 5 Muslims were killed in other towns.
2004 Shoko Asahara was convicted and sentenced to hang for masterminding the deadly 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway and other crimes that killed 27 people.

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

Dominican Republic : Independence Day (1844)
St Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla : Statehood Day (1967)
St Kitts & Antigua : Independence Day (1967)
US : Wine Appreciation Week (Day 6)
US : Read Your Warranty Day
Sleep Safety Month

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Religious Observances
Christian : Feast of St Leander
Anglican : Commemoration of George Herbert, priest
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Gabriel Possenti [non-leap years]

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Religious History
280 Birth of Constantine the Great, the first Roman emperor to be converted (ca. 312) to the Christian faith.
1838 Birth of William J. Kirkpatrick, American Methodist sacred composer. He edited his first collection of hymns at age 21, and is still remembered today for composing the melodies to such hymns as: "He Hideth My Soul," "'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus," "Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It" and "Lord, I'm Coming Home."
1839 Scottish clergyman Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in a letter: 'Most of God's people are content to be saved from the hell that is without. They are not so anxious to be saved from the hell that is within.'
1849 William Jewell College was chartered in Liberty, Missouri, under Baptist sponsorship.
1938 English Bible expositor Arthur W. Pink wrote in a letter: 'Slackness and carelessness are inexcusable in a child of God. He should ever present a model and example of conscientiousness, painstaking care, and exactness.'

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

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Thought for the day :
"Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage."

[Professional Engineer]

Capt. Brad E. Troxel lowers his head during the scripture-reading portion of the depot's observance of the National Prayer Breakfast Feb. 15 at Duncan Hall.
Photo by: Sgt. Ryan Smith

No atheists in a Foxhole size

[Professional Engineer]

1988 Bonnie Blair (US) wins Olympics 500 meter speed skating in record 39.1

1988 Katarina Witt (GDR) wins 2nd consecutive Olympics figure skating

Fine IcicleSpankenTruppen recruits.

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone.

[SAMWolf]

Morning Aeronaut.

[SAMWolf]

Morning E.G.C.

Sun is out again this morning. :-)

[SAMWolf]

Morning alfa6.

[Aeronaut]

Hi Sam.

[SAMWolf]

Hi GailA. How'd the quilt show go?