The FReeper Foxhole Remembers the Battle of Shiloh - Feb. 7th, 2003

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/1257/shiloh.html ^

[SAMWolf]

On the morning of April 6, 1862, the sun rose over the Union encampment at Pittsburg Landing. Neither Ulysses S. Grant, the Union commander, nor Albert S. Johnston, the Confederate commander, could possibly know what this day would hold. It would bring advances in military tactics. It would bring innovations in the medical field. It would change all preconceived notions that the Civil War would be short-lived. For Johnston and thousands of other brave soldiers on the Union and Confederate sides, it would bring death.

During the winter of 1861-62 Federal forces pushing southward from St. Louis captured Forts Henry and Donelson on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. This action forced Gen. Johnston to abandon southern Kentucky and much of West and Middle Tennessee. After withdrawing further south, he established a new line covering the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, the only all-weather link between Richmond and Memphis. Realizing that he could not wait for another Federal advance, Johnston began concentrating forces at Corinth, Mississippi, where he hoped to take the offensive and destroy General Grant's Army of the Tennessee before it could be joined by General Don Carlos Buell's Army of the Ohio.

U.S. Grant

On April 2, 1862, Johnston began his march from Corinth. "The roads were meandering cow paths," one confederate soldier said. Because of the lack of marching experience, the march took much longer than expected.

Meanwhile, at the Union camp at Shiloh, the Federals troops spent a day drilling and merry-making. Hundreds went for a swim in Owl Creek. Others rested. There was also a good deal of diarrhea, which the boys labelled the "Tennessee quick step".

Grant wired his superior General H.W. Halleck. "I have scarecely the faintest idea of attack." Halleck told Grant to "sit tight at Shiloh and wait for Buell to arrive." William Tecupseh Sherman, division commander, was quoted saying to reporters, "Take your regiment to Ohio. No enemy is nearer than Corinth." Little did he know that the night of April 5, the huge and powerful Army of the Mississippi was poised to strike just out of sight of the Union camp. P.G.T. Beaureguard, second in command of the Confederates, felt they had lost the element of suprise because of some shots fired by the men in front. Beaureguard pleaded with Johnston to postpone the attack. "I would fight them if they were a million," Johnston said.

On the morning of April 6, Johnston told his fellow officers "Tonight we will water our horses in the Tennessee." When Johnston's powerful Army of the Mississippi hit the federal camps, they had achived complete suprise. The attack pushed most Union divisions back to reform elsewhere. Others fought doggedly to hold their line.

Once the attack started, there was mass confusion on both sides. Most of the boys had never been in battle before, and did not know there orders. "It was a murderous fist fight."

The Rebels rolled over one Union position after another. Then, amongst the confusion along a sunken road, the federals finally established and held a line that stopped the southern advance. The division consisted of Illinois and Iowa farm boys mostly, under the command of General Prentiss. Grant's orders were to "Hold the sunken road at all costs." Prentiss greatly understood the seriousness of Grant's orders. Bullets buzzed through the saplings around the area, and it appeared and sounded like a hornet's nest. The Confederate infantry launched eleven attacks on the Hornet's nest. The Union line wavered and bent, but would not break. The Confederate artillery lined up sixty-two cannons at point blank range and fired on the sunken road. It was the largest number of cannons ever used at that time in a war effort. Under protection of the cannons the Rebel troops were able to move in and take the sunken road. The Union troops were forced to surrender. They had fought well holding the Confederates for six hours. For years to come Union veterans were proud to say, " I fought with Prentiss at the Hornet's Nest."

There was also a great deal of fighting at a peach orchard, just yards away from the Hornet's Nest. The peach trees were in full bloom. Many soldiers lay dead. Peach blossoms covered the dead like a fresh-fallen snow. Gen. Johnston led the last raid on the peach orchard. He came out with his clothes tattered from bullets that had grazed him, and his boot sole was shot. A Confederate officer saw him wobbling in his saddle and ask if he were hurt. "Yes," he replied. "And I feel seriously." His aid took him to a nearby tree. He was shot in the back of the leg. He bled to death. He could have easily been saved with a touniquet, but he had sent his surgeon off to care for Union prisoners.

A farm pond near the peach orchard was covered with soldiers from both armies. Many men went to bathe their wounds and drink from the water. For many it was their last drink. The water was stained red with blood.

That night dead lay everywhere. Neither army had developed a system for gathering the dead. General Grant said a peson can walk in any given direction without stepping on ground." In a Confederate camp that night one soldier said, "You can hear the screams of the injured. They screamed for water, God heard them for the heavens opened and the rain fell." Flashes of lightening showed vultures feeding on the ungathered dead.

On the night of April 6, the long-awaited arrival of Don Carlos Buell's reinforcements arrived. Through the cover of gunboat fire, his troops came in on steamboats. The gun boats fired on fifteen minute intervals, allowing Buell's forces to come aground, and robbing the Confederates of their greatly needed rest.

That morning the Confederates were pushed back on the ground that they had fought so hard to win the day before. With the fresh troops, the weary Rebels had little chance to win a complete victory. The Southerners were forced to march back to Corinth.

A.S. Johnston

The final number of dead or missing was 13,000 on the Union side and 10,500 on the Confederate side. There were as many people killed at Shiloh as there were at Wateloo. The difference between that Napoleanic war and the Civil War is that there weren't twenty more Waterloos to come.

Shiloh was a decisive battle in the war. The South needed a win to make up for land lost in Kentucky and Ohio. It also needed to save the Mississippi Valley. Memphis and Vicksburg were now vulnerable to Union attack, and after Corinth there is now doubt that those cities would be the next targets.

However, Grant and his men had been rid of their over-confidence by the battle of Shiloh. They now knew that hopes for and easy victory over the south were ill-founded. Grant knew then that this war was going to be, in the words of a Union Soldier, "A very bloody affair."

[SAMWolf]

Shiloh is a Hebrew word meaning place of peace.

Isn't it strange that a battle as bloody as the battle at Shiloh would begin on a Sunday morning and be named for a country church near the battlefield? Maybe the soldiers didn't even see the irony. Then again, maybe someone did.

The Union soldiers weren't prepared for the charge of their Confederate brothers. Many of the Union troops were untrained and undisciplined, but as in so many battles of war, mundane events served to alter the future.

General Albert S. Johnston, CSA, had given his commanding generals orders to attack the Union troops led by General Ulysses S. Grant at 0300 on April 5th. Storms, bad roads, and delayed orders combined to change the outcome. General Pierre Beauregard, commander of Confederate troops at the Battle of First Bull Run and second-in-command during the Battle of Shiloh, commented that the enemy was given "...the most surprising surprise" but the delays allowed Union reinforcements to take their place on the battlefield beside their comrades and drive the rebels back after two days of fighting. No ground was gained, no strategic town was taken, no supply depot was sacked, but the Union victory did force the evacuation of Confederate troops from much of Tennessee and split the rebel forces along the lines formed by the Mississippi River.

  Confederate Losses                  Union Losses 
Killed           1,723          Killed              1,754 
Wounded          8,012          Wounded             8,408 
Captured/Missing   959          Captured/Missing    2,885 

[SAMWolf]

'There will be no fighting at Pittsburgh Landing; we will have to go to Corinth'

-- Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant, USA

[SAMWolf]

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[SAMWolf]

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[SAMWolf]

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[CholeraJoe]

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[SAMWolf]

Morning CholeraJoe, Thanks for opening the Foxhole today.

[Valin]

On this Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on February 07:
1478 Sir Thomas More lawyer/lord chancellor of England/saint (Utopia)
1556 Maria van Nassau Dutch countess of Buren
1589 Jacob de Witt Dutch mayor (Dordrecht)/mathematician
1612 Thomas Killigrew English humorist/playwright/leader (King's Men)
1655 Jean-François Regnard French comedy writer (Slave in Algeria)
1688 Maria Louise van Hessen-Kassel [Marijke Meu], princess of Orange
1693 Anna Ivanova Romanova empress of Russia (1730-40)
1700 Philippe Buache French geographer/cartographer (Contourlijnen)
1707 Carl August Thielo composer
1710 William Boyce English organist/composer of Cathedral music
1739 Joseph Pouteau composer
1740 Adam-Philippe Custine French earl/General/MP
1753 Rhijnvis Feith Dutch mayor/writer (Zwolle/Thirsa)
1758 Benedikt Emanuel Schack composer
1764 Ann Radcliffe London, Gothic novelist (Mysteries of Udolpho)
1801 John Rylands England, merchant/philanthropist
1803 Edgar Quinet French writer/historian (Ahasvérus)
1804 John Deere pioneer manufacturer of agricultural implements
1809 Frederik Paludan-Müller Danish Romantic poet (Danserinden)
1812 Charles Dickens England, novelist (Oliver Twist, Tale of 2 Cities)
1817 Frederick Douglass Maryland, 1st high ranking black in US government
1817 Leroy Pope Walker US lawyer/Confederate minister of War (1861)
1822 Joaquin y Garbayo Gaztambide composer
1823 Richard Genee composer
1824 William Higgins discovered nature of spiral "nebulae"
1825 Crystobal Oudrid y Segura composer
1833 Ricardo Palma Peru, writer/poet (Tradiciones Peruanas)
1834 Dmitri I Mendelejev Russian chemist (devised Periodic Table)
1837 Sir James Augustus Henry Murray Scotland, created Oxford Dictionary
1839 Nicolaas G Pierson Dutch banker/Suriname premier (1897-1901)
1842 Alexandre Ribit premier (France)
1847 Ernst Franck German composer/conductor
1862 Bernard Maybeck US architect (Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco)
1863 Mieczyslaw Soltys composer
1864 Arthur Collins singer/comedian (Peerless Quartet)
1864 Ricardo Castro Herrera composer
1866 Raf[ael] Verhulst [Koen Ravestein], Flemish writer (Jesus of Nazarus)
1867 Laura Ingalls Wilder Wisconsin, children's book author (Little House on Prairie)
1869 Jindrich S Baar Czechoslovakia pastor/writer (Jan Cimbura)
1870 Alfred Adler Austria, psychiatrist (Inferiority Complex)
1871 Karl Wilhelm Eugen Stenhammer composer
1872 Nikolaos "Sokrates" Politis Greek lawyer/diplomat/foreign minister
1875 Erkki Gustav Melartin composer
1875 Walter Courvoisier composer
1877 Godfrey H Hardy England, number theorist
1877 Feliks Nowowiejski composer
1877 Julius Curtius German minister of Foreign affairs (1929- )
1878 Ossip Gabrilovich composer
1883 Eubie Blake ragtime composer/pianist (I'm Just Wild About Harry, Memories of You)
1883 Paul de Backer Belgian radiologist
1885 Sinclair Lewis novelist/social critic (Main Street, Nobel 1930)
1891 Joachim Stutschewsky composer
1896 Harold Hoffman South Amboy NJ, (Governor-New Jersey)
1896 Jacob Paludan Danish pharmacist/writer (Jørgen Stein)
1897 Quincy Porter New Haven CT, composer
1899 Arvid Pelshe Latvian Communist leader, CPSU Politburo member
1901 Bob den Doolaard [Cornelis Spoelstra], Dutch writer (Grape Pickers)
1902 Ethelda Blebtrey Waterford NY, 100 meter swimmer (Olympics-gold-1920)
1904 Milton Krims writer (Speed)
1905 Ulf Svante von Euler Sweden, physiologist (Nobel 1970)
1905 Olf S von Euler-Chelpin Swedish physiologist
1905 Paul Nizan French journalist/writer (L'Humanité, La Conspiration)
1906 Henry P'u-i last emperor of China, puppet emperor of Manchukuo
1907 Arthur George Bottomley politician
1908 Clarence Clarence Linden "Buster" Crabbe Oakland CA, swimmer (Olympics-gold-1932)/actor (Tarzan the Fearless, Flash Gordon)
1909 Joseph "Poeske" Scherens Flemish cyclist (champion sprinter 1932-37)
1912 Derek Farr London, actor (8 O'Clock Walk, Doctor at Large)
1912 Jane Ross Spokane WA, actress (Audrey-Phyllis, Coed Fever)
1914 David Ignatow US poet (Tread the Dark, Rescue the Dead)
1914 Jacques Mornard [Ramón Mercader], murderer (Trotsky)
1914 Ralph Whitlock writer
1917 Dick Emery London England, actor/comedian (Yellow Submarine, Loot, Baby Love)
1919 Ilse Pausin Austria, figure skating pairs (Olympics-silver-1936)
1919 Jock Mahoney actor (Range Rider, Yancy Derringer, Day of Fury)
1919 Dom Hélder Câmara Brazilian bishop
1920 Eddie Bracken Astoria New York NY, actor (Summer Stock, Young & Willing)
1920 Oscar Brand Winnipeg Canada, folk singer (Draw Me a Laugh)
1921 Athol Rowan cricketer (brother of Eric, South African off-spinner)
1921 Bryan Woods soldier/clerk
1923 Keefe Brasselle Elyria OH, actor (Be Our Guest)
1923 George H H Lascelles English earl of Harewood/leader (Covent Garden)
1924 Cathy Long (Representative-D-LA, 1985-86)
1924 Dora Bryan [Broadhurst], Southport England, actress (Taste of Honey)
1924 Hattie Jacques Kent England, actress (Carry on Doctor)
1924 Johnny Jordaan [Jan van Musscher], Amsterdam folk vocalist
1925 Arthur Berry artist
1925 H Eisenreich writer
1925 Marius Constant Rumania, Dutch composer/conductor (Paradise Lost)
1925 Romolo Valli actor (Bobby Deerfield, Fistful of Dynamite, La Viaccia)
1926 Konstantin Petrovich Feokistov USSR, cosmonaut (Voskhod I)
1927 John Buller composer
1928 Al "Fuzzy" Smith baseball player
1932 Alfred M Worden Jackson MI, Colonel USAF/astronaut (Apollo 15)
1932 Gay Talese author (Honor Thy Father)
1934 Earl King [Solomon Johnson], rocker
1934 King Curtis [Curtis Ousley], Forth Worth TX, US saxophonist (Memphis Soul Stew)
1934 Piet Bukman Dutch minister for Development Aid (CDA)
1935 Herb Kohl (Senator-D Wisconsin)
1938 Juan Pizarro baseball player
1938 Robert Frank Baksa composer
1940 Gary Bond England, actor (Outback, Zulu, Anne of Thousand Days)
1942 Ton [ACHM] de Kok Dutch MP (CDA)
1944 Berend baron van Voorst tot Voorst Dutch foreign state secretary (CDA)
1944 Berry [AH] Esselink Dutch MP (CDA)
1944 Michael A Andrews (Representative-D-TX, 1983- )
1945 Gerald Davies British rugby player
1945 Pete Postlethwaite actor (The Boxer)
1946 Hector Babenco director (Ironweed, Kiss of the Spider Woman)
1946 Lawrence Ascott rocker (Isotope)
1946 Sammy Johns rocker (Politics, Religion & Her)
1948 Jimmy Greenspoon Los Angeles CA, rock organist (3 Dog Night-Joy to the World)
1949 Alan Lancaster bassist (Status Quo-Down Down, On the Level)
1949 Sunil Wettimuny cricket (Sri Lanka open batsman 1975-79 World Cups)
1950 Marilyn Cochran Burlington VT, skier (Olympics-1972)
1950 Burt Hooton baseball player
1950 Dan Quisenberry baseball pitcher (Kansas City Royals)
1951 Manfred Schumann German Federal Republic, bobsled (Olympics-silver/bronze-1976)
1951 Benny Ayala baseball player
1953 Robert Brazile NFLer
1954 Miguel Ferrer Santa Monica CA, actor (Robocop)
1955 Rolf Benirschke Boston MA, NFL place kicker/Wheel of Fortune host
1955 Charlie Puleo baseball player
1957 Carney Lansford baseball player
1957 Damaso Garcia baseball player
1958 Manuel Mijares Mexico, Spanish vocalist (Maria Bonita)
1958 Michele Drake La Jolla CA, playmate (May, 1979)
1959 Brian Travers rock saxophonist (UB40-Red Wine)
1959 Sammy Lee British soccer player
1960 James Spader New York NY, actor (Endless Love, Wall St, Mannequin)
1960 Steve Bronski rock synthesizer (Bronski Beat-Smalltown Boy)
1962 David Bryan rock keyboardist (Bon Jovi-You Give Love a Bad Name)
1962 Garth Brooks Tulsa OK, country singer (No Fences, Ropin' the Wind)
1962 Alan Sippy cricketer (dashing Bombay lefty batsman of 1980's)
1963 Heidemarie M Stefanyshyn-Piper St Paul MN, Lieutenant Commander USN/astronaut
1963 Jason Adams Los Angeles CA, actor (Ryan's Hope, Nightmare on Elm Street)
1963 Roland Lefebvre cricket pace bowler (Glamorgan & Holland)
1964 Dona L Speir Norwalk CA, playmate (March, 1984)
1964 Cynthia "Sippy" Woodhead Riverside CA, swimmer (Olympics-silver-84)
1964 Gretchen Magers Pittsburgh PA/San Antonio TX, tennis star
1965 Jason Gedrick Chicago IL, actor (Heavenly Kid, Class of '96)
1965 Kristal Parker-Gregory Columbus OH, LPGA golfer (1995 Hawaiian-20th)
1965 Reginald Thal soccer player (MVV)
1966 Chris Rock comedian (Saturday Night Live, CB4, Boomerang)
1967 Joseph Tilford Leigh Greene Dayton OH, long jumper (Olympics-bronze-92, 96)
1968 Ashely Allen San Antonio TX, playmate (August 1992)
1968 Martin Sinner Koblenz Germany, tennis star (1990 Pretoria)
1968 Michael Stich German Federal Republic, tennis star
1968 Peter Bondra Lutsk Ukraine, NHL right wing (Washington Capitals)
1969 Bucky Richardson US football quarterback (Houston Oilers)
1969 Fiona Robinson Collie Western Australia, basketball player (Olympics-bronze-96)
1970 Chris Gardocki NFL punter (Indianapolis Colts)
1970 Denis Chasse Montréal, NHL right wing (Winnipeg Jets)
1970 Stanley Roberts NBA center (Los Angeles Clippers, Minnesota Timberwolves)
1971 Andrew Currey Australian javelin thrower (Olympics-96)
1971 Marvin Graves CFL quarterback (Montréal Alouettes)
1972 Aftab Habib cricketer (Leicestershire right-handed batsman 1996)
1972 John Slaney St John's, NHL defenseman (Los Angeles Kings)
1973 Billy Baumhoff St Louis MO, soccer midfielder/forward (Olympics-gold-96)
1973 Juwan Howard NBA forward/center (Washington Bullets/Wizards)
1973 Kristin Godridge Traralgon Australia, tennis star (1993 Futures-Singapore)
1973 Leanne Schuster Mesa AZ, WPVA volleyballer (National-9th-1995)
1973 Sonia Paquette St-Janvier Québec Canada, hurdler (Olympics-96)
1973 Tim Bowens NFL defensive tackle (Miami Dolphins)
1974 Ryan Phillips linebacker (New York Giants)
1974 Steve Nash NBA guard (Phoenix Suns)
1975 Alexandre Daigle Montréal, NHL center (Ottawa Senators)
1975 Marika Lehtimaki ice hockey center (Finland, Olympics-98)
1976 Hrafnhildur Hafsteinsdottir Miss Iceland-Universe (1996)
1976 Terry Battle running back (Detroit Lions)
1977 Christine Scheels New Berlin WI, speed skater (Olympics-1994)
1977 Hillary Wolf Chicago IL, extra lightweight judoka (Olympics-96)
1979 Cerina Vincent Miss Nevada Teen-USA (1996)
1985 [Alber]Tina Marie Majorino actress, (Waterworld, When a Man Loves a Woman)

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Deaths which occurred on February 07:
0590 Pelagius II Gothic Pope (579-90), dies from plague
1593 Jacques Amyot French humanist/abbot of Bellozanne, dies at 79
1609 Ferdinand I cardinal/ruler of Toscane, dies
1743 Lodovico Giustini composer, dies at 57
1749 Andre Cardinal Destouches composer, dies at 76
1779 William Boyce composer, dies at 67
1820 Samuel Adams Holyoke composer, dies at 57
1823 Ann Radcliffe (Ward) English poet/author of horror novels, dies at 58
1827 Franz Anton Dimmler composer, dies at 73
1830 Marcus Antonio da Fonseca Portugal Portuguese composer, dies at 67
1857 Félix PBOG Earl of Merode, Belgian minister of War, dies at 65
1862 Frantisek Jan Skroup composer, dies at 61
1865 John Henry Winder US Confederate Brigadier-General/provost marshal, dies at 64
1878 Pius IX "Pio Nono", [Giovanni Ferretti], Pope (1846-78), dies at 85
1881 Fredrik Cygnaeus Finnish poet/literature critic, dies at 73
1897 Galileo Ferraris Italian physicist (Ferrari), dies at 49
1901 Benjamin Edward Woolf composer, dies at 64
1911 Harry Graham cricketer (6 Test for Australia 1893-96, 301 runs), dies
1915 Wladyslaw Gorski composer, dies at 68
1918 Alexander Sergeyevich Taneyev composer, dies at 68
1920 Alexander Koltsjak Admiral/leader Russian counter-revolutionary, executed
1931 Ion Vidu composer, dies at 67
1933 Albert György Earl Apponyi Hung minister of Education, dies at 86
1937 Elihu Root US Minister of War/Foreign affairs (Nobel 1912), dies at 91
1940 Francis Ford cricketer (5 Tests for England vs Australia 1894-95), dies
1942 Dorando di Desiderio Pietri marathoner (Olympics-gold-1908), dies at 56
1948 "Red" McKenzie blues-jazz singer (played comb-with-tissue-paper), dies
1954 Jan Adam Maklakiewicz composer, dies at 54
1957 Rudolph Reti composer, dies at 71
1958 Walter Kingsford actor (My Favorite Blonde, Fly by Night), dies at 76
1959 Napoleon Lajoie baseball player, dies at 83
1959 Daniel F Malan premier of South Africa (1948-54), dies at 84
1959 Slim [Eddie Jones] Guitar rocker, dies at 32
1960 Igor V Kurtshatov Russian nuclear physicist, dies at 57
1961 Louis-Ferdinand Céline French physician/author/anti-Semite, dies at 67
1962 Arthur Carr cricketer (11 Tests for England 22-29), dies shovelling snow
1964 Hermann A J Kees German Egyptologist, dies at 77
1964 Lillian Copeland US discus thrower (Olympics-gold-32), dies at 59
1965 Nance O'Neil actor (Cimarron, Royal Bed, Rogue Song), dies at 90
1967 Henry Morgenthau US minister of Finance (devaluated dollar), dies at 74
1968 Stuart Foster singer (Galen Drake Show), dies at 49
1968 Nick [Aloysius Adamschock] Adams actor (Interns, Pillow Talk, FBI Story, Johnny Yuma-The Rebel), ODs at 36
1969 Bainbridge Crist composer, dies at 85
1974 Arline Judge actress (Age of Consent), dies at 61
1975 Brendan Fay actor (Hustler, Man on a Swing), dies at 54
1977 Herman Dooyeweerd Dutch philosopher/lawyer, dies at 82
1979 Josef Mengele concentration camp doctor, drowns
1980 Ernst Kunz composer, dies at 88
1980 Katherine Emery actress (Maze, Isle of the Dead), dies at 73
1984 Brooks West actor (Richard-My Friend Irma), dies at 67
1985 Albert Dondeyne Belgian philosopher/theologist, dies at 83
1985 Uday Merchant cricket (brother of Vijay, prolific scorer), dies
1986 Armand Preud'homme Flemish organist/lyricist, dies at 81
1987 David Savoy Jr rock manager (Hüsker Du), commits suicide at 24
1988 Lin[wood V] Carter US, sci-fi writer (Lost World of Time), dies at 57
1990 Jimmy Van Heusen composer (Call Me Irresponsible), dies at 77
1990 Nathan Wartels publisher (Crown), dies88 from pneumonia at
1990 Dom Heider Camara nonviolent/human rights Bishop of Brazil, dies
1991 Dick Winslow actor (Tom Sawyer, Mutiny on the Bounty), dies at 75
1991 Gladys LaVerne dies of heart problems at 87
1992 Jeanne Gerson dies of cancer & pneumonia at 87
1993 Arthur Ashe tennis star (Wimbledon 1975), dies of AIDS at 49
1993 W Sybout A Colenbrander Dutch historian/journalist, dies at 82
1994 Maarten Vrolijk Dutch Social-Democrat minister (CRM 1965-66), dies at 74
1994 Richard Bissell US under director of CIA (Pig's Bay), dies at 84
1995 Helen Wallis cartographer/Librarian, dies at 70
1995 Massimo Pallottino Italian archaeologist (Etruscologia), dies at 86
1996 George Lowthian Trevelyan designer/visionary, dies at 89
1996 Isian Kehinde I K Dairo musician/academic, dies at 65
1996 Lillian Rambach teacher violinist, dies at 84
1996 Lydia Korneevna Chukovskaya writer, dies at 88
1996 Tiny Winters musician, dies at 87
1997 Danil Shafran cellist, dies at 74
1998 Carl Dean Wilson musician, dies at 51

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On this day...
0590 Pelagius II ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1301 Edward of Caernarion (later Edward II) becomes 1st prince of Wales
1522 Treaty of Brussels Habsburgers split into Spanish/Austrian Branches
1550 Giovanni Maria del Monte elected Pope Julius III
1569 King Philip II forms inquistion in South America
1613 Michail Romanov (16) becomes czar of Russia
1639 Académie Française begins the Dictionary of the French Language
1653 Nicolas Fouquet appointed superintendent of Finance of France
1668 Dutch Prince William III dances in premiere of "Ballet of Peace"
1792 Austria & Prussia sign anti-French covenant
1792 D Cimarosa's opera "Il Matrimonio Segreto" premieres in Vienna
1795 11th Amendment to US Constitution ratified, affirms power of states
1795 Dutch Prince William V accepts British occupation of Dutch Indies
1812 8.2 earthquake shakes New Madrid MO; this is the last of Midwest quakes (see 12/16)
1812 Lord Byron makes his maiden speech in House of Lords
1818 1st successful US educational magazine "Academician" begins (New York NY)
1827 Ballet (Deserter) introduced to US at Bowery Theater (New York NY)
1831 Belgium adopts its Constitution
1836 "Sketches by Boz" (essays) published by Charles Dickens
1839 Henry Clay declares in Senate "I had rather be right than president"
1862 Federal fleet attack on Roanoke Island NC
1864 Federal troops occupy Jacksonville FL
1872 Alcorn A & M College opens
1876 President Grant's private-secretary Orville acquitted in Whiskey Ring
1877 1st Guernsey Cattle Club organizes (New York NY)
1881 Battle at Ingogo, Transvaal Boers beat superior British forces
1882 Last bare knuckle champion John L Sullivan KOs Paddy Ryan in Mississippi
1883 Lieutenant-Colonel Borgnis-Desbordes founds Fort Bamako Niger
1884 Canadian Rugby Football Union forms
1889 Astronomical Society of Pacific holds 1st meeting in San Francisco
1891 Great Blizzard of 1891 begins
1900 Labour Party forms in England
1900 British troops vacate Vaal Krantz, Natal
1901 Queen Wilhelmina marries Prince Heinrich von Mecklenburg-Schwerin
1903 VVV '03 Soccer team forms in Venlo
1904 Baltimore catches fire (1500 buildings destroyed in 80 blocks)
1905 Dominican Republic signs treaty turning over customs collection to US
1905 Oklahoma admitted to statehood
1908 Connie Mack sells hurler Rube Waddell to St Louis Browns for $5,000
1910 Edmond Rostand's "Chantecler" premieres in Paris
1912 2nd Dutch 11 city skate (Coen de Koenig wins (11:40))
1914 Steel work completed on Exposition (Civic) Auditorium, San Francisco
1914 Charlie Chaplin debuts "The Tramp" in "Kid Auto Races at Venice"
1915 1st wireless message sent from a moving train to a station received
1915 2nd Battle of Masurian Lakes German armies surrounded a Russian army
1922 John Willard's "Cat & the Canary" premieres in New York NY
1924 Mussolini government exchanges diplomats with USSR
1928 1st solo England to Australia flight takes off (Bert Hinkler)
1931 US opera, "Peter Ibbetson", by Deems Taylor premieres at Metropolitan Opera NYC
1933 Colonial troops in Suriname kill 2 demonstrators
1933 Social-Democrat meeting in Berlin "As thousands cheer" Marxism is dead
1934 1st contract for TVA power, Tupelo MS
1935 Monopoly invented by Charles Darrow symbol Rich Uncle Pennybags
1936 A flag is authorized for the Vice President
1936 Felix the Cat, Cartoon Character, by Van Beuren from Otto Messmer
1940 British railroads nationalized
1940 Walt Disney's 2nd feature-length movie, "Pinocchio", premieres (New York NY)
1941 Frank Sinatra & Tommy Dorsey Orchestra record "Everything Happens to Me"
1942 1st indoor 15' pole vault (Cornelius Warmerdam 15' 3/8")
1943 Shoe rationing begins in US (may purchase up to 3 more pairs in 1942)
1944 Germans launch counter-offensive at Anzio Italy
1944 Bing Crosby records "Swinging on a Star" for Decca Records
1945 General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila
1945 President Truman appoints Irwin C Mollison judge of US Customs Court
1945 US 76th/5th Infantry divisions begin crossing Sauer
1946 Filibuster in US Senate kills FEPC bill
1947 Arabs & Jews reject British proposal to split Palestine
1948 Omar Bradley succeeds Dwight Eisenhower as Army Chief of Staff
1948 "Cradle Will Rock" closes at Mansfield Theater NYC after 34 performances
1949 Joe DiMaggio becomes 1st $100,000/year baseball player (New York Yankees)
1950 Georges Bidault forms French government
1950 Senator Joe McCarthy finds "communists" in US Ministry of Foreign Affairs
1950 US & Great-Britain recognize Bao Dai Vietnamese regime
1956 Autherine Lucy, 1st black admitted to University of Alabama, is expelled
1958 1st showing of DAF 600 auto
1958 Dodgers officially become the Los Angeles Dodgers, Inc
1958 Dutch auto-transmission car DAF 600 introduced
1959 Cessna lands in Las Vegas after 65 d without landing (refuels in air)
1959 "Whoop-Up" closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 56 performances
1959 Castro proclaims new Cuban constitution
1959 Dorothy Rigney sells White Sox to Bill Veeck for a reported $27M
1960 Old handwriting found in at Qumran, near the Dead Sea
1961 Jane Fonda made her acting debut in the NBC drama "A String of Beads"
1962 Gas explosion in Luisanthal coal mine Voelklingen Germany kills 298
1962 President Kennedy begins blockade of Cuba
1964 Baskin-Robbins introduces Beatle Nut ice cream
1964 Beatles land at New York's JFK airport, for 1st US tour
1964 Cassius Clay becomes a Muslim & adopts the name Muhammad Ali
1964 Roger Sessions' 5th Symphony, premieres
1965 George Harrison of the Beatles, has his tonsils removed
1965 US begins regular bombing & strafing of North Vietnam
1965 Operations begin at Grupo Folklorico Antiyano on Curaçao
1965 WVIZ TV channel 25 in Cleveland OH (PBS) begins broadcasting
1966 KWCM TV channel 10 in Appleton MN (PBS) begins broadcasting
1968 Arthur Miller's "Price" premieres in New York NY
1968 Belgium government of Vanden Boeynants falls
1968 WLED TV channel 49 in Littleton NH (PBS) begins broadcasting
1969 "This Is Tom Jones" debuts on ABC TV
1969 Al-Fatah-leader Yasser Arafat becomes president of PLO
1969 Diane Crump becomes 1st woman jockey at a major US racetrack (Hialeah FL)
1970 LSU's "Pistol" Pete Marovich scores 69 points in losing cause
1970 "Hollywood Palace" last airs on ABC TV
1970 "Jingle Jangle" hits #10 on the pop singles chart by Archies
1970 US female Figure Skating championship won by Janet Lynn
1970 US male Figure Skating championship won by Tim Wood
1971 Women win the right to vote in Switzerland
1971 Swiss men accept female suffrage
1973 1st time Rangers shut-out Islanders 6-0
1973 Senate creates Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities
1974 Grenada gains independence from Britain (National Day)
1974 Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" opens in movie theaters
1975 NBA New Orleans Jazz end a 28 game road losing streak
1976 Darryl Sittler, Toronto, sets NHL record with 10 points in a game
1976 FCC raids & shuts down pirate radio station WCPR (Brooklyn NY)
1976 World's largest telescope (600 cm) begins operation (USSR)
1976 Larry Groce's "Junk Food Junkie" peaks at #9
1977 Soyuz 24 launches with 2 cosmonauts
1978 Ethiopian offensive in Ogaden desert
1979 Neptune becomes farthest planet from the sun in our solar system (will remain that way for 20 years)
1979 Toronto Maple Leaf Darryl Sittler scores NHL record 10 points (6 goals)
1979 "Supertrain", TV Anthology, Superbomb of 1979, debuts on NBC
1979 Colonel Benjedid Chadli succeeds President Boumédienne in Algeria
1979 Faoud Bacchus scores 250 for West Indies vs India at Kanpur
1979 Pink Floyd premiered their live version of "The Wall" in Los Angeles
1982 Joanne Carner wins LPGA Elizabeth Arden Golf Classic
1982 Luis A Monge elected President of Costa Rica
1983 1st female secretary of transportation sworn-in (Elizabeth Dole)
1984 Bruce McCandless makes 1st untethered space walk (US)
1984 David (born without immunity system) at 12, touches mom for 1st time
1984 Michael Jackson awarded a 4-foot-high platinum disc by CBS
1985 Marshall University's Bruce Morris scores a basket from 92'5¼"
1985 New York Devil Don Lever becomes 57th NHLer to score 300 goals
1985 "New York, New York" became the official anthem of New York NY
1986 Haiti's President-for-Life Jean-Claude Duvalier flees to France Henri Namphy becomes leader of Haiti
1986 Philippine Corazon Aquino defeats incumbent dictator Ferdinand Marcos but fraudulent returns gave the election to Marcos
1986 US female Figure Skating championship won by Debi Thomas
1987 Dennis Conner & Stars & Stripes bring America's Cup back to US
1987 Madonna's "Open Your Heart" single goes #1
1987 "Ronnies Rap" by Ron & DC Crew peaks at #93
1987 US male Figure Skating championship won by Brian Boitano
1988 Heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson marries actress Robin Givens
1988 38th NBA All-Star Game East beats West 138-133 at Chicago
1988 Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Mazda Golf Classic
1988 NFL Pro Bowl AFC beats NFC 15-6
1989 Tennis superstar Björn Börg, apparently attempts suicide in Milan
1989 40th NHL All-Star Game Campbell beat Wales 9-5 at Edmonton
1990 Karachi police kill 22 anti-nationalistic demonstrators
1990 Lisa Leslie of Morningside High School in Inglewood CA scores 101 in 1st half, South Torrance High School decides not to play 2nd half & loses 102-24
1990 USSR Communist party agrees to allow opposition political parties
1991 Bob Knight, Larry O'Brien, Tiny Archibald, Dave Cowens, Harry Gallatin & Larry Fleisher elected to NBA Hall of Fame
1991 Jean-Bertrand Aristide sworn in as Haiti's 1st elected president
1992 Mike Tyson testifies in his rape trial
1992 Shannon Rhea Marketic, 22, (California), crowned 41st Miss USA
1993 NFL Pro Bowl AFC beats NFC 23-20
1993 Pebbles Flintstone & Bamm Bamm Rubble wed
1993 Tammie Green wins LPGA Healthsouth Palm Beach Golf Classic
1994 21st American Music Award Whitney Houston wins
1994 Howard Stern stops a would-be jumper on the George Washington Bridge
1994 Jim Nabors undergoes a liver transplant
1995 Last day of Test Cricket cricket for Graham Gooch & Mike Gatting
1997 US & Russia announce summit set for Helsinki, March 20-21
1998 18th Winter Olympics games open at Nagano Japan
1998 NHL's Dallas Stars retire Neal Broten's #7

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

China : Chinese New Year-The Year of the Rat (2008/4706)
Grenada : Independence Day (1974)
Switzerland : Homstrom-celebrates end of winter - - - - - ( Sunday )
World : Boy Scouts Day (1910) - - - - - ( Sunday )

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Religious Observances
Christian : Feast of St Theodore
Old Roman Catholic : Feast of St Romuald, abbot

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Religious History
1528 Bern, the strongest canton (territorial division) in southern Switzerland in its day, officially embraced the Protestant faith of Swiss reformers Ulrich Zwingli and John Oecolampadius.
1546 Eleven days before his death, German reformer Martin Luther wrote in a letter to his wife Kate: 'I have a better Caretaker than you and all the angels. He it is who lies in a manger ...but at the same time sits at the right hand of God, the almighty Father. Therefore be at rest.'
1832 Birth of Hannah Whitall Smith, American Quaker evangelist and devotional author. Her best-known writing was "The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life" (1875). It's still in print!
1947 U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall prayed: 'We want to do right, and to be right; so start us in the right way, for Thou knowest that we are very hard to turn.'
1869 Connecticut Congregational clergyman Samuel Wolcott, 56, upon returning home from a YMCA evangelistic service, penned the words to the missionary hymn, "Christ for the World We Sing."

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Thought for the day :
"One man tells a falsehood, a hundred repeat it as true."

[SAMWolf]

1974 Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" opens in movie theaters

This and "The Producers" are his best flicks.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks Cote, I'll have to do this at home tonight. I've wargamed the Battle of Shiloh and since I know the mistakes the Confederates made, I've won the battle but he casualties are always high.

[SAMWolf]

I knew you'd pick "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" today.

Good Herman Melville poem. Thanks

[SAMWolf]

Yep, or 20/20 hindsight.

[aomagrat]

Today's classic warship, USS Ranger (CV-4)

Ranger class aircraft carrier
Displacement. 14,500 t.
Lenght. 769'
Beam. 81' 8"
Draft. 19' 8"
Speed. 29.25 k.
Complement. 1,788
Armament. 8 5", 86 Aircraft.

The USS Ranger (CV-4), the first ship of the Navy to be designed and built from the keel up as an aircraft carrier was laid down 26 September 1931 by Newport News Ship- building & Drydock Co., Newport News, Va.; launched 25 February 1933, sponsored by Mrs. Herbert Hoover; and commissioned at the Norfolk Navy Yard 4 June 1934, Capt. Arthur L. Bristol in command.

Ranger conducted her first air operations off Cape Henry 6 August 1934 and departed Norfolk the 17th for a shakedown training cruise that took her to Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, and Montevideo. She returned to Norfolk 4 October for operations off the Virginia Capes until 28 March 1935, when she sailed for the Pacific. Transiting the Panama Canal on 7 April, she arrived San Diego on the 15th. For nearly 4 years she participated in fleet problems reaching to Hawaii, and in western seaboard operations that took her as far south as Callao, Peru, and as far north as Seattle, Wash. On 4 January 1939, she departed San Diego for winter fleet operations in the Caribbean out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She then steamed north to Norfolk, Va., arriving 18 April.

Ranger cruised along the eastern seaboard out of Norfolk and into the Caribbean Sea. In the fall of 1939, she commenced Neutrality Patrol operations, operating out of Bermuda along the trade routes of the middle Atlantic and up the eastern seaboard up to Argentia, Newfoundland. She was returning to Norfolk from an ocean patrol extending to Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Arriving Norfolk 8 December, she sailed on the 21st for patrol in the South Atlantic. She then entered the Norfolk Navy Yard for repairs 22 March 1942.

Ranger served as flagship of Rear Adm. A. B. Cook, Commander, Carriers, Atlantic Fleet, until 6 April 1942, when he was relieved by Rear Adm. Ernest D. McWhorter, who also broke his flag in Ranger.

Steaming to Quonset Point, R.I., Ranger loaded 68 Army P-40 planes and men of the Army's 33d Pursuit Squadron, put to sea 22 April, and launched the Army squadron 10 May to land at Accra, on the Gold Coast of Africa. She returned to Quonset Point 28 May 1942, made a patrol to Argentia, then stood out of Newport 1 July with 72 Army P-40 pursuit planes, which she launched off the coast of Africa for Accra the 19th. After calling at Trinidad, she returned to Norfolk for local battle practice until 1 October, then based her training at Bermuda in company with four escort aircraft carriers that had been newly converted from tankers to meet the need for naval air power in the Atlantic.

The only large carrier in the Atlantic Fleet, Ranger led the task force comprising herself and four Sangamon-class escort carriers that provided air superiority during the amphibious invasion of German dominated French Morocco which commenced the morning of 8 November 1942.

It was still dark at 0615 that day, when Ranger, stationed 30 miles northwest of Casablanca, began launching her aircraft to support the landings made at three points on the Atlantic coast of North Africa. Nine of her Wildcats attacked the Rabat and Rabat-Sale airdromes, headquarters of the French air forces in Morocco. Without loss to themselves, they destroyed seven planes on one field, and 14 bombers on the other. Another flight destroyed seven planes on the Port Lyautey field. Some of Ranger's planes strafed four French destroyers in Casablanca Harbor while others strafed and bombed nearby batteries.

The carrier launched 496 combat sorties in the 3-day operation. Her attack aircraft scored two direct bomb hits on the French destroyer leader Albatros, completely wrecking her forward half and causing 300 casualties. They also attacked French cruiser Primaugut as she sortied from Casablanca Harbor, dropped depth charges within lethal distance of two submarines, and knocked out coastal defense and anti- aircraft batteries. They destroyed more than 70 enemy planes on the ground and shot down 15 in aerial combat. But 16 planes from Ranger were lost or damaged beyond repair. It was estimated that 21 light enemy tanks were immobilized and some 86 military vehicles destroyed-most of them troop- carrying trucks.

Casablanca capitulated to the American invaders 11 November 1942 and Ranger departed the Moroccan coast 12 November, returning to Norfolk, Va., on the 23d.

Following training in Chesapeake Bay, the carrier under- went overhaul in the Norfolk Navy Yard from 16 December 1942 to 7 February 1943. She next transported 75 P-40-L Army pursuit planes to Africa, arriving Casablanca on 23 February; then patrolled and trained pilots along the New England coast steaming as far north as Halifax, Nova Scotia. Departing Halifax 11 August, she joined the British Home Fleet at Scapa Flow, Scotland, 19 August, and patrolled the approaches to the British Isles.

Ranger departed Scapa Flow with the Home Fleet 2 October to attack German shipping in Norwegian waters. The objective of the force was the Norwegian port of Bodö. The task force reached launch position off Vestfjord before dawn 4 October completely undetected. At 0618, Ranger launched 20 [33] Dauntless dive bombers and an escort of eight Wildcat fighters. One division of dive bombers attacked the 8,000-ton freighter LaPlata, while the rest continued north to attack a small German convoy. They severely damaged a 10,000-ton tanker and a smaller troop transport. They also sank two of four small German merchantmen in the Bodö roadstead.

A second Ranger attack group of 10 Avengers and six Wildcats destroyed a German freighter and a small coaster and bombed yet another troop-laden transport. Three Ranger planes were lost to antiaircraft fire. On the afternoon of 4 October, Ranger was finally located by three German aircraft, but her combat air patrol shot down two of the enemy planes and chased off the third.

Ranger returned to Scapa Flow 6 October 1943. She patrolled with the British Second Battle Squadron in waters reaching to Iceland, and then departed Hvalfjord on 26 November, arriving Boston 4 December. On 3 January 1944, she became a training carrier out of Quonset Point, R.I. This duty was interrupted 20 April when she arrived at Staten Island, N.Y., to load 76 P-38 fighter planes together with Army, Navy, and French Naval personnel for transport to Casablanca. Sailing 24 April, she arrived Casablanca 4 May. There she onloaded Army aircraft destined for stateside repairs and embarked military passengers for the return to New York.

Touching at New York 16 May, Ranger then entered the Norfolk Navy Yard to have her flight deck strengthened and for installation of a new type catapult, radar, and associated gear that provided her with a capacity for night fighter interceptor training. On 11 July 1944 she departed Norfolk transited the Panama Canal 5 days later, and embarked several hundred Army passengers at Balboa for transportation to San Diego, arriving there 25 July.

After embarking the men and aircraft of Night Fighting Squadron 102 and nearly a thousand marines, she sailed for Hawaiian waters 28 July, reaching Pearl Harbor 3 August. During the next 3 months she conducted night carrier training operations out of Pearl Harbor

. Ranger departed Pearl Harbor 18 October to train pilots for combat duty. Operating out of San Diego under Commander, Fleet Air, Alameda, she continued training air groups and squadrons along the California coast throughout the remainder of the war.

Departing San Diego 30 September 1945, she embarked civilian and military passengers at Balboa and then steamed for New Orleans, arriving 18 October. Following Navy Day celebrations there, she sailed 30 October for brief operations at Pensacola. After calling at Norfolk, she entered the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard 18 November for overhaul. She remained on the eastern seaboard until decommissioned at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard 18 October 1946. Struck from the Navy list 29 October 1946, she was sold for scrap to Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Chester, Pa., 28 January 1947.

Ranger received two battle stars for World War II service.

[SAMWolf]

Some of Ranger's planes strafed four French destroyers in Casablanca Harbor while others strafed and bombed nearby batteries.

The carrier launched 496 combat sorties in the 3-day operation. Her attack aircraft scored two direct bomb hits on the French destroyer leader Albatros, completely wrecking her forward half and causing 300 casualties. They also attacked French cruiser Primaugut as she sortied from Casablanca Harbor, dropped depth charges within lethal distance of two submarines, and knocked out coastal defense and anti- aircraft batteries.

Maybe it's the Rangers' fault the French don't like us? NOT!!

[SAMWolf]

The battle of Shiloh left 23,746 men being either killed, wounded, or missing. That is more men than all of the previous American battles combine. Shiloh let the world know that the Civil War was serious, and that it would not soon come to an end.