The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The US Army Camel Corps - Mar. 24th, 2003

http://www.drumbarracks.org/Camel%20Corps.html ^ | Ellen Jacobs & Floyd Farrar

[SAMWolf]

Dear Lord,

There's a young man far from home,
called to serve his nation in time of war;
sent to defend our freedom
on some distant foreign shore.

We pray You keep him safe,
we pray You keep him strong,
we pray You send him safely home ...
for he's been away so long.

There's a young woman far from home,
serving her nation with pride.
Her step is strong, her step is sure,
there is courage in every stride.
We pray You keep her safe,
we pray You keep her strong,
we pray You send her safely home ...
for she's been away too long.

Bless those who await their safe return.
Bless those who mourn the lost.
Bless those who serve this country well,
no matter what the cost.

Author Unknown

.

FReepers from the USO Canteen, The Foxhole, and The Poetry Branch
join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time.

.

.................................................................................................................................

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THE US ARMY CAMEL CORPS

For several years before the outbreak of the Civil War, the United States Army conducted an experiment using camels as pack animals in the Southwest. This desert region's punishing climate and terrain took a terrible toll on the horses and mules upon which the Army had always depended. The suggestion that camels might fare better than these traditionally used mounts under desert conditions was met with ridicule and opposition by some, but with eager interest by others. Read on and learn the story of this fascinating and little known episode in U.S. military history.

THE BEGINNING:
Selling The Idea

It was George H. Crosman, a U.S. Army second lieutenant who fought in the Seminole wars in Florida, who first proposed the introduction of camels to America. His argument, articulated here by his friend and fellow camel enthusiast E. F. Miller of Ipswich, Massachusetts, was:

For strength in carrying burdens, for patient endurance of labor, and privation of food, water & rest, and in some respects for speed also, the camel and dromedary (as the Arabian camel is called) are unrivaled among animals. The ordinary loads for camels are from seven to nine to ten hundred pounds each, and with these they can travel from thirty to forty miles per day, for many days in succession. They will go without water, and with but little food, for six or eight days, or it is said even longer. Their feet are alike well suited for traversing grassy or sandy plains, or rough, rocky & hilly paths, and they require no shoeing...


Henry C. Wayne

Reasonable though this was, no one in Washington took Crosman seriously, until he befriended Henry C. Wayne, a Quartermaster, and fellow major (Crosman had been promoted several times by then). Wayne was able to convince Jefferson Davis, a senator from Mississippi, that the Army should give camels a trial.

In his capacity as chairman of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs, Davis regularly advocated for the importation of camels on an experimental basis, but to no avail. It wasn't until Davis was appointed Secretary of War in 1852 that he was able to make an official recommendation on the subject of camels. Even then, it took another three years, during which time the matter was much discussed in the press, before the government took action. On March 3, 1855 Congress appropriated $30,000 for the project, and the stage was set for the birth of the U.S. Camel Corps.

ADVENTURES ABROAD:
Getting The Camels

The ship USS Supply, with Lieutenant David Dixon Porter in command, set sail from New York on June 3, 1855. Aboard was Major Henry C. Wayne, charged by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis with the responsibility of procuring camels for the U.S. Army.



Upon arriving in the North African City of Tunis Wayne and Porter were so anxious to purchase camels, and so inexperienced, that they bought the first beast offered to them, which turned out to be sickly. They vowed to do better next time, but found that healthy camels were difficult to find. There was war in the Crimea, and most of the camels were there, carrying troops and supplies. They sailed again, for Malta, Greece, and Turkey, but had little luck in locating healthy animals.

They were, however, learning about the camel trade. They learned that Arabians (one-humped camels native to the Middle East) were best for riding, while Bactrians (two-humped Asian camels) were best for carrying loads. They also learned how to avoid sick animals, and that camel dealers sometimes artificially inflated a sick camel's hump to give it a false appearance of plump good health.

At last, in Egypt, they discovered a plentiful supply of camels, but government regulations forbade them being taken from the country. Many bribes and negotiations later, the USS Supply headed for home with 33 camels and five camel-drovers who had been hired to care for the animals en route, and to educate American soldiers about the animals when they arrived.



The two-month trip home was far from smooth. There were storms at sea, during which the camels had to be lashed down in a kneeling position to prevent injuries. Also, the camel-drovers proved lax, and neglected their charges. Eventually, however, on April 29, 1856, the Supply and its crew arrived at the port of Indianola, TX with 34 camels–one more than they had started with.

THE EXPERIMENT:
Camels Vs. Mules And Men On U.S. Soil

Once on dry land, the camels were given several weeks of rest before being taken to their permanent base at Camp Verde, 60 miles west of San Antonio. During this time, they were used only occasionally to carry supplies from town. Major Wayne enjoyed astonishing the locals by loading a camel with 4 bales of hay (weighing over 1,200 pounds, about four times what a mule could carry) and having it rise, grumbling and groaning for effect, but otherwise unconcerned, and walk away, hardly aware of its burden.


Edward F. Beale

Soon the camels took up residence at Camp Verde, and Wayne sent very favorable reports about them to Secretary of War Davis. However, Wayne and Davis had a falling out over whether or not to breed the animals (Davis was against it) and eventually, in frustration, Wayne requested a transfer. A series of leadership changes followed; during which time the camels were put to little use. However, in June of 1857, the Camel Corps was assigned to survey the unexplored territory between El Paso and the Colorado River. The party, led by Edward Fitzgerald Beale, consisted of 25 camels, 44 soldiers, 2 camel-drovers (Greek George and Hadji Ali, whose name had been anglicized to Hi Jolly), and numerous horses and mules. At first, the camels did not meet Beale's high expectations, and often arrived in camp hours later than the horses and mules. But after a few days on the march, they hardened to their task, and soon outstripped the other animals, often leading over terrain where mules and horses balked.

More importantly, the camels proved their mettle when the expedition became lost and its water supplies dwindled. Only the camels were fit to go on. They found a river 20 miles from camp, and led the expedition to it, then looked on with indifference as men, mules, and horses gulped the water they were desperate for. Triumphantly, the Camel Corps pushed on to the Colorado River, its mission a success. The camels had won over the skeptics among the party. There were others in Washington however, who had not seen the beasts in action, and who remained unconvinced of their worth.

THE END:
The Fate Of The Camels

When James Buchanan took office as President in 1857, he appointed a new Secretary of War, John B. Floyd. Although Floyd himself was a proponent of the Camel Corps, his commander of the Army in Texas, Major General David E. Twiggs, was not. In fact, Twiggs, "was outraged when he discovered a herd of camels under his command" (Yancey, p. 47). Though he admitted that he knew little of camels or of their potential fitness for military use, Twiggs's hatred of them was intense, and he barraged his superior with letters of complaint.

The camels were also unpopular among some of the soldiers who worked with them. Some found the beasts bad tempered, and claimed that they held grudges against those who ill-treated them, waiting for a chance to exact revenge by kicking or spitting on their enemies. The camels' smell was also a bone of contention, as it was unpleasant to men, and caused panic and stampeding among domestic animals unfamiliar with the strong odor.


The only known photograph of an Army camel. Government Depot near Banning's Wharf

In addition, the camels, though they performed splendidly when required, were not used often. Apart from carrying supplies, and making occasional surveying trips, the camels didn't do much, and were seen by some as a financial drain that brought little return.

By 1860, the nation's mind was on the imminent Civil War, and the camels were all but forgotten. In the course of the War, the Camp Verde herd was little used by the Confederate forces who were in charge there. The same was true of the camels that had remained in California after the Beale expedition: they were cared for, but seldom put to use. In November of 1863, the California herd was put up for public sale. Camels were sold to zoos, circuses, mining companies, and a few individuals, such as Edward F. Beale, who allowed his camels to live out their lives in comfort on his ranch. The Texas herd was auctioned off in 1865, though some of the camels sold were later reclaimed as stolen property by the government, which promptly released them into the desert. The short, colorful career of the U.S. Camel Corps had come to an end.

WHAT BECAME OF THEM?
THE LEGEND: Phantom Camels And Others

For years after the dissolution of the U.S. Camel Corps, camels wandered at will across the American desert. Bactrians, who had been bought and later set loose by a mining concern in British Columbia, drifted south to Nevada and Idaho. Many Arabians roamed through Texas, California, and Arizona. Although the last authenticated sightings of camels in the wild occurred in the early years of this century, there are locals who claim that the beasts thrive in remote areas to this day.



Among the many legends that arose concerning these animal army veterans who had been released to fend for themselves, none was more intriguing than the tale of the camel known as the Red Ghost. The first incident occurred in 1883, when a woman was discovered trampled by some beast, which left clumps of its reddish fur in a nearby thorn bush and huge hoof prints in the mud. Several days later, a large, unidentifiable animal careered wildly into a tent in which two miners lay sleeping. It too left behind hoof prints twice the size of those left by horses, and strands of red fur. More sightings occurred, and eventually the creature was recognized as a camel. A rancher reported that the animal carried a rider, and that the rider did not appear to be alive. This claim was proved when the beast was next seen, by a group of prospectors, who saw something fall from its back and roll away into the dust. The prospectors eagerly retrieved this object, which turned out to be a human skull.

The Red Ghost and its now headless rider continued to terrorize the populace for the next decade. It was finally killed in 1893 by an Arizona farmer, who caught the huge red camel grazing in his vegetable patch one morning. When examined, it was found that the animal had at last shaken free of its grisly rider, though it still bore the leather straps with which the corpse had been attached. Who was the mysterious rider? How did he come to be tied to the camel, and why? No one knows but the Red Ghost, whose unwanted burden eventually drove him on to madness and death.

[SAMWolf]

Secretary of War John B. Floyd, successor to Davis after the election of 1856, ordered a wagon route surveyed from Fort Defiance, New Mexcio, to the Colorado River, and Lt. Beale was his choice for the task, with collateral orders to test the dromedaries as pack animals at the same time. Thus to Lt. Edward F. Beale fell the honor of being the first and last commander of the U.S. Camel Corps.

It was during the transfer to San Antonio that Major Wayne overheard a number of grizzled Texans comment with some cynicism on the camels; allowing that they would have a bleak future in the United States. They "walked funny" and didn't look as if they could tote much. Wayne ordered a kneeling dromedary to be loaded with two bales of hay, each weighing 300 pounds—more than triple what a prime mule could pack. The onlookers murmured in disbelief. "That hoss will never stand with that load." At the major's signal, two additional bales were cinched to the beast's pack saddle—the total: 1,256 pounds! "Impossible! Not a chance in h---!. Cain't be done!"

Wayne nudged the camel, which obediently lurched upright and strode off with the load. The crowd broke into cheers. The dromedaries had won their first supporters. When the grand experiment was over, Beale would prove camels could carry enormous loads—some up to a ton—walk forty miles in a day for as many as eight to ten days without water over barren country. They could swim—and did, across the Colorado—and function in sand or snow. Their drivers swore "camels would get fat where a jackass would starve to death."

On the strength of Beale's report, Secretary Floyd recommended the purchase of 1,000 dromedaries for the U.S. Army—but the clouds of Civil War were gathering, and the Experiment abandoned.

So what has all this to do with Jerry, the Grantsville camel? Well, Beale had turned over twenty-eight government dromedaries to the California Quartermaster in 1861. The Camel Corps story spread throughout the West (in this century, Hollywood would treat this historical footnote dramatically in "Southwest Passage" in 1954 and as a comedy in "Hawmps" in 1976.) The California and Utah Camel Association bought some Army animals in 1859 and sold them at auction to a company in Esmeralda County, Nevada, which employed them to carry salt from a marsh there to a silver mill in Washoe County some 200 miles distant.

The dromedaries didn't receive the same understanding care as they had in the Army and suffered from the high alkali content in the region. Neglected by teamsters, some camels died, others ran off into the desert and still others were sold to mine owners in Arizona to haul ore. It was said a party of Frenchmen had rounded up twenty to thirty camels near Tucson, broke them to pack, and sold them in Virginia City, where a visiting Yale professor reported seeing camels in 1865.

Within a decade, the animals had become enough of a nuisance on wagon roads to result in the previously mentioned legislative act prohibiting them to wander at large on Nevada's public roads. For years, there were scattered reports of camels seen in various parts of the Southwest and Nevada, and even remote areas of Utah. Those reports usually were accompanied by claims that the "escaped circus animals" were frightening horses, mules and teamsters—the teamsters, in turn, would open fire in the face of such "vicious creatures."

[SAMWolf]

U.S. Camel Corps remembered in Quartzsite, Arizona

One of the most interesting military experiments of the American West involved 77 camels and a Syrian named Hi Jolly. His real name was Hadji Ali, and he's remembered today at a pyramid-shaped monument in the Quartzsite



With the first shots of the Civil War, the Camel Military Corps was as good as dead. Most of the animals were auctioned off, although a few escaped into the desert where most were shot by prospectors and hunters as pests.

Hi Jolly kept a few and started a freighting business between the Colorado River ports and mining camps to the east. The business failed, however, and Jolly released his last camel in the desert near Gila Bend. Years later, after marrying a Tucson woman and fathering two children, Hi Jolly moved to Quartzsite where he mined with a burro. He died in 1902 at age 73 and was buried in the Quartzsite Cemetery. To his dying day, Hi Jolly believed that a few of the camels still roamed the desert. Some people think the ghosts of some still do.

[SAMWolf]

'I'll tell you why the government quit fooling with the camels," he said. "It wasn't because they didn't do a good job. They could carry a thousand pounds of freight 65 miles a day and they went three days without water. But they scared hell out of every varmint that sighted ‘em and they caused plenty of trouble.

Hi Jolly told me all about it. Those camels were lonesome for the caravans of their home country and every time they sighted a prospector's mule train they'd make a break for it. You've heard of how horses bolted at the sight of the first automobiles. That wasn't anything compared to the fright those ugly, loping camels threw into mules. The mules would lay back their ears and run for their lives and then the prospectors would cuss and reach for their guns and shoot at the camels. A lot of camels got killed that way.'

-- Bill Keiser

'The famous camel herd with which the name of Hi Jolly is linked constitutes an interesting sidelight of Arizona history ...

Jefferson Davis (afterward President of the Southern Confederacy) as secretary of war approved a plan to experiment with camels for freighting and communication in the arid Southwest ...

Major Henry C. Wayne, of the U.S. Army, and Lt. D.D. Porter (later a distinguished admiral of the Civil War) visited the Levant with the storeship "Supply" and procured 33 camels which were landed at Indianola, Texas, February 10, 1856. 41 were added on a second voyage ...

With the first camels came, as caretaker, Hadji Ali, whose Arabic name was promptly changed to "Hi Jolly" by the soldiers, and by this name he became universally known. His Greek name was Phillip Tedro ...

On the Beale expedition (1857) to open a wagon road across Arizona from Fort Defiance to California, the camels, under Jolly's charge, proved their worth ...

Nevertheless the war department abandoned the experiment and the camels were left on the Arizona desert to shift for themselves, chiefly roaming this particular section. They survived for many years, creating interest and excitement ...

Officially the camel experiment was a failure, but both Lt. Beale and Major Wayne were enthusiastic in praise of the animals. A fair trial might have resulted in complete success.'

-- Sign at the site of Hi Jolly's tomb

[SAMWolf]

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[SAMWolf]

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[SAMWolf]

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[CholeraJoe]

Interesting story, SAM. Good morning.

[Valin]

It's MONDAY! So lets be careful out there.
On this Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on March 24:
1188 Ferrand of Portugal earl of Flanders/son of Sancho I
1441 Ernst I elector of Saxon (1464-86)
1494 Georgius Agricola Germany, mineralogist (De Re Metallica)
1607 Michiel A de Ruyter Dutch Rear Admiral (St Vincent, Dune)
1630 José Saenz d'Aguirre Spanish cardinal
1703 José F de Isla [Francisco de Salazar], Spanish Jesuit/writer
1714 Carlo Giovanni Testori composer
1732 Gian Francesco de Majo composer
1740 John Antes composer
1749 Bernard Jumentier composer
1755 Rufus King framer of US constitution/(Senator-F)
1762 Marcos Antonio da Fonseca Portugal, opera composer (Portogallo)
1797 Antonio Rosmini-Serbati philosopher/founder (Institute of Charity)
1802 Jacob van Lennep attorney/Dutch MP
1809 Joseph Liouville St Omer Pas-de-Calais France, discover of transcendental numbers
1814 Galen Clark US, naturalist, discovered Mariposa Grove
1817 Aime Maillart composer
1821 [George] Hector Tyndale Bvt Major General (Union volunteers)
1821 Elisa Felix [Rachel] tragedienne
1834 John Wesley Powell US, geologist/explorer/ethnologist
1834 William Morris England, designer/craftsman/poet/socialist
1835 Josef Stefan Austria, physicist (Stefan-Boltzmann law)
1837 Philips Count of Flanders Belgium
1855 Andrew W Mellon founder (Mellon Bank)/US Secretary of Treasury
1855 Olive Schreiner South African writer (Portrait of a South African Woman)
1866 Jack McAuliffe US lightweight boxing champion, hall of famer
1869 Émile Fabre France, playwright, administrator of Comédie Française
1871 Sir Ernest Rutherford nuclear scientist
1874 Harry Houdini [Erik Weisz] Budapest Hungary, magician/escape artist
1874 Luigi Einaudi economist/1st President of Italy (1948-55)
1878 Top Naeff [Anthonetta van Rhijn-N-Naeff] Dutch writer
1883 James I Wedgwood British theosophist/old-catholic bishop
1884 Gino Marinuzzi composer
1884 Peter Debye Holland, physical chemist (Nobel 1936)
1885 Charlie Daniels US swimmer (Olympics-4 gold-1904, 08)
1887 Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle Smith Center KS, actor (Keystone comedies)
1888 Jameson Thomas London England, actor (Farmer's Wife)
1890 Miguel Suriel Netherland Antillian writer (Muhé culpabel)
1891 Annie "Charley" Toorop Dutch painter (3 Generations)
1891 John Knittel writer
1893 George Sisler baseball hall of fame 1st baseman (257 hits in 1920)
1895 Arthur Murray dancer (Arthur Murray's Dance Party)
1895 Sid Saylor Chicago IL, actor (Wally-Waterfront)
1896 Gianna Manzini writer
1897 Charles Eyck Dutch painter/sculptor
1897 Wilhelm Reich Austrian-US psycho analysist (character analysis)
1898 Dorothy Stratton organizer (SPARS-women's branch of US Coast Guard)
1898 George Alpert railroad executive
19-- Crissy Wilzak Comstock Elyria OH, actress (Crissy-Mork & Mindy)
19-- Kim Ulrich Ripon CA, actress (Diana-As the World Turns)
19-- Terrell Anthony Illinois, actor (Rusty-Guiding Light)
1900 June [Algeria Junius] Clark musician trumpet
1902 Thomas E Dewey Ohio, 1st Catholic Presidential candidate 1944, 1948 (R)
1903 Adolph F J Butenandt German bio-chemist (Nobel 1939)
1903 John Patrick Sutton Ludlow actor (Agatha)
1903 Malcolm Muggeridge English writer (Observer of Life)
1905 André Christiaens Flemish writer (Unfindable Country)
1906 John Cameron Swayze news correspondant, Timex spokesman
1907 Janet Harmon Bragg US pilot/columnist (Chicago Defender)
1907 Lauris Norstad US General (NATO commander)/CEO (Owens-Corning Fiberglass)
1907 Lucia Chase US ballerina/co-founder (American Ballet Theater)
1907 Lydia Korneevna Chukovskaya writer
1907 Martin Kosleck [Nicolaie Yoshkin] Barkotzen Germany, actor (Pursuit to Algiers)
1909 Clyde Barrow bank robber (of Bonnie & Clyde fame)
1909 Thomas E "Tommy" Trinder English radio comic/actor (Phoenix)
1910 Jacques Chailley composer
1910 Richard Conte Jersey City NJ, actor (Four Just Men, 13 Rue Madeleine, Hotel, Jean Arthur Show)
1911 Enrique Jordá San Sebastian Spain, conductor (San Francisco Symphony Orchestra 1970)
1911 Herman W "Fritz" Liebert US OSSer/librarian (Yale curator)
1911 Jane Beverly Drew architect
1911 Joseph Barbera animator (Hanna-Barbera)
1914 Lilli Palmer Posen Germany, actress (Boys From Brazil, Sebastian)
1918 Englebert van Anderlecht Belgian painter
1919 John J Duncan Jr (Representative-Republican-TN, 1965- )
1919 Lawrence Ferlinghetti author (Coney Island of the Mind)
1920 Gene Nelson [Berg], Seattle WA, actor (Tea For 2, Oklahoma)
1921 Wilson Harris Guayanese author
1922 Dave Appell singer/musician/songwriter (In the Midnight Hour)
1922 Dorothy Irene Height president (national council of negro women)
1923 Edna Jo Hunter expert on military families & prisoners of war
1923 Murray Hamilton Washington NC, actor (Rich Man Poor Man)
1924 Lois Andrews actress (Ganster, Rustlers, Desert Hawk)
1924 Lorraine Gourley Los Angeles CA
1924 Norman Fell Philadelphia PA, actor (Mr Roper-3's Company, The End, Graduate)
1925 Duncan Wood TV director/producer
1925 Mai Zetterling Vaeras Sweden, actress (Hidden Agenda, Ringer)
1926 Dario Fo Leggiuno Sangiano VA, playwright (Nobel-1997)
1927 Janos Decsenyi composer
1927 Martin Walser writer
1928 Byron "Yanks" Janis McKeesport PA, pianist (NBC Symphony Orchestra)
1928 Vanessa Brown Vienna Austria, actress (My Favorite Husband)
1929 Cuan McCarthy cricketer (36 Test wickets for South Africa, 1 career no-ball)
1930 Kenneth Nelson Rocky Mount NC, actor (Henry Aldrich-Aldrich Family)
1930 Steve McQueen Slater MO, actor (Wanted, Dead or Alive, Blob, Bullitt)
1931 Thelma Kalama US, 4 X 100 meter relay swimmer (Olympics-gold-1948)
1932 William Smith Columbia MO, actor (Rich Man Poor Man, Hawaii Five-0)
1932 Yuri Anatoyevich Ponomaryov Russia, cosmonaut (Soyuz 18 backup)
1933 David Harries composer
1935 Peter Bichsel writer
1936 Fredrick Kaufmamn composer
1937 Benjamin Luxon Redruth England, baritone (Owen Wingrave)
1937 Bill Tillman baseball player
1937 Billy Stewart US R&B singer (I Do Love You)
1937 Erskine Sandiford premier (Barbados, 1987-94)
1938 Larry Wilson NFL back (Cardinals)
1940 Bob Mackie Monterey Park CA, designer (Streisand, Cher)
1943 H Martin Lancaster (Representative-Democrat-NC)
1943 Jesus Alou baseball outfielder (San Francisco Giants)
1943 Marika Kilius German Federal Republic, pairs ice skating-Franz Ningel/Hans Jurgen Baumler, (Olympics-silver-1960, 64)
1944 Denny McLain baseball pitcher (Detroit Tigers, 31 wins in 1968)
1944 Patti Labelle singer (Phoenix, Tasty, Chameleon)
1946 Lee Oskar Copenhagen Denmark, rock harmonicist (War-Why Can't We Be Friends)
1946 Paul Williams climber
1947 Alan Sugar English multi-millionaire/computer manufacturer (Amstrad)
1947 Mike Kellie rock drummer (Spooky Tooth-It's All About)
1947 Paul McCandless rocker (Torches on the Lake)
1947 Pieter W Coetzer South African journalist/MP (NP)
1949 Nick Lowe vocalist/producer (I Knew the Bride)
1949 Steve Lang Montréal Canada, rock bassist (April Wine-Just Between You and Me)
1951 Dougie Thompson rocker (Supertramp-Bloody Well Right)
1951 Earl Williams NBAer
1951 Kenneth S Reightler Jr Patuxent MD, Commander USN/astronaut (STS 48, 60)
1951 Pat Bradley Westford MA, LPGA golfer (1981 US Women's Open)
1952 Nicholas Campbell Toronto Canada, actor (Nick-The Insiders)
1953 Steve Lubbers cricketer (captain of Dutch World Cup team 1996)
1954 Donna Pescow Brooklyn, actress (Angie, Out of this World, Rainbow)
1954 Irina Ratushinskaya Odessa Ukraine, dissident poet (Beyond the Limit)
1954 Robert Carradine Los Angeles CA, actor (Slim-The Cowboys, Wavelength)
1956 Ijaz Faqih cricketer (Pakistan off-spin all-rounder in 5 Tests 80-88)
1957 Scott J Horowitz Philadelphia PA, PhD/Captain USAF/astronaut (STS 75, 82)
1959 Renaldo Nehemiah US, hurdler (110 meter at 12.93)/NFLer (San Francisco 49ers)
1960 Kelly LeBrock New York NY, actress (Weird Science, Woman in Red)
1961 Dean Jones cricketer (dashing Australian batsman & fielder 1984-92)
1961 James T Gallagher Jr Johnstown PA, PGA golfer (1990 Greater Milwaukee)
1962 Penny Hammel Decatur IL, LPGA golfer (Jamie Farr Toledo-1985, 89)
1962 Star Jones attorney/TV hostess (NBC, Inside Edition)
1963 Raimond van der Gouw Dutch soccer goalie (Vitesse, Manchester)
1963 Sammy Giammatva Houston TX, tennis star
1964 Hans Schwaier West Germany, tennis star
1965 Angela Zuckerman St Louis MO, speed skater (Olympics-1994)
1965 Ben Torriero WLAF running back (Scottish Claymores)
1965 Jeff Reese Brantford, NHL goalie (Tampa Bay Lightning)
1965 Marian Vajda Czechoslovakia, tennis star
1966 Penny Toler WNBA guard (Los Angeles Sparks)
1966 Tatjana Patitz Hamburg German Federal Republic, model/actress (Rising Sun)
1967 Kathy Rinaldi-Stunkel Florida, tennis player (Virginia Slims of Arkansas 1987)
1967 Richard Gillam Atlanta GA, pairs skater (& Erin Moorad)
1969 Yoko Zetterlund San Francisco CA, volleyball setter (Olympics-bronze-92, 96)
1970 Lara Flynn Boyle Davenport IA, actress (The Practice, The Temp, Twin Peaks)
1970 Marques Bragg NBA forward (Minnesota Timberwolves)
1970 Mike Vanderjagt CFL kicker (Toronto Argonauts)
1970 Shannon Lemora Baton Rouge LA, 1.5k runner
1973 Atle Larsen WLAF kicker (Rhein Fire)
1973 Chip McCaw Chicago IL, volleyball setter (Olympics-96)
1973 David Moravec hockey forward (Team Czechoslovakia Olympics-gold-1998)
1973 Josh Lakatos Pasadena CA, trap shooter (Olympics-silver-1996)
1973 Philippe Boucher St Apollinaire CA, NHL defense (Los Angeles Kings, Olympics-G-98)
1974 Terry Killens linebacker (Tennessee Oilers)
1975 Debbie Keller Winfield IL, soccer forward (Olympics-96)
1975 Julia Bikbova Kiev Ukraine, dance skater (& John Lee)
1976 Danielle Garrett Camp Hill PA, soccer forward (Olympics-96)
1977 Olivia Burnette San Clemente CA, actress (Torkelsons)
1980 Luke Edwards Nevada City CA, actor (Newsie)

---

Deaths which occurred on March 24:
0809 Harun al-Rashid caliph of the Abbasid empire (786-809), dies at 44
1400 Florens Radewijns Dutch priest/leader Modern Devotion, dies
1455 Nicholas V [Tommaso Parentucelli] Italian Pope (1447-55), dies at 57
1455 Rudolf van Diepholt bishop/cardinal of Utrecht (1448-55), dies
1471 Sir Thomas Malory author (Le Morte d'Arthur), dies at 55
1558 Anna van Buren countess of Egmond/Buren/Lingen, dies
1603 Elizabeth I Tudor [Maiden Queen] UK queen (1558-1603), dies at 69
1631 Philipp Dulichius composer, dies at 68
1635 Jacques Callot French cartoonist/engraver, dies at about 42
1644 Cecilia Renata arch duchess of Austria, dies
1654 Samuel Scheidt German composer (Concertus sacri), dies at 66
1661 William Leddra last Quaker, hanged in Boston
1755 Theodor Christleib Reinhold composer, dies at 72
1823 Cornelis van Foreest Dutch mayor (Alkmaar), dies at 66
1825 Giovanni Domenico Perotti composer, dies at 64
1838 Thomas Attwood composer, dies at 72
1842 Stendhal [Marie-H Beyle] French writer (The Love), buried at 59
1866 Maria Amalia of Bourbon-Sicily, wife of Louis Filips of Austria, dies
1877 Walter Bagehot English economist/critic/banker, dies at 51
1878 Albin Masek composer, dies at 73
1881 Friedrich Hecker German revolutionary republic politician, dies at 69
1882 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow US poet (Song of Hiawatha), dies at 75
1894 Robert Prescott Stewart composer, dies at 68
1899 Billy Barnes cricketer (725 runs in 21 Tests for England), dies
1905 Jules Verne sci-fi author (Around the World in 80 Days), dies at 77
1909 John Millington Synge Irish dramatist/playwright/poet, dies at 37
1911 Matthew Stanley Robison president (Cardinals), dies
1916 Enrique y Campina Granados Sp opera composer (Goyescas), drowns at 48
1918 Theophile Ysaye composer, dies at 53
1921 Deodat de Severac composer, dies at 48
1932 George Robert Canning cricketer (the 4th Lord Harris), dies
1937 Léopold Courouble Belgian writer (Pauline Flatbread), dies at 76
1945 J S Nicklin Lieutenant-Colonel/Canada's 1st parachutist, dies
1945 Thomas Rennie General-Major (Dutch command 51st Highland Division), dies
1946 Alexander A Aljechin world chess champion (1927-35, 37-46), dies at 53
1946 Gustaf Heintze composer, dies at 66
1953 Felix M Abel French dominican/biblical scholar, dies at 74
1953 Mary [Victoria of Teck] queen of Great Britain/North-Ireland, dies at 86
1953 Queen Mary of Britain dies
1960 Paul Joostens Flemish painter, dies at 70
1962 Auguste Picard Swiss explorer, dies at 78
1964 Peter Lorre Hungarian/US actor (Maltese Falcon, Raven), dies at 59
1967 Marc Lavry composer, dies at 63
1968 Howard Petrie actor (Border River, Bounty Hunter), dies at 61
1968 Lauwrens Voorthuyzen Dutch sect leader, dies at 70
1969 Joseph Kasavubu President of Congo (1960-65), dies at about 55
1974 Doris Deane dies at 74
1974 Yoshida Isoya Japanese architect (modern sukiya style), dies at 79
1975 Muriel Hutchinson actor (Another Thin Man), dies at 60
1975 Oscar Rasbach composer, dies at 86
1976 Bernard L Montgomery British General, defeated Rommel, dies at 88
1976 Nelson Case TV host (Trash or Treasure), dies at 66
1977 Saburo Moroi composer, dies at 73
1978 Brackett Hamilton Leigh [Douglass], author (Ginger Star), dies at 62
1979 Yvonne Mitchell writer, dies at 53
1980 Archbishop Oscar Romero assassinated while conducting mass in San Salvador
1982 Ace Goodman Kansas City MO, comedian (Easy Aces), dies at 83
1984 Sam Jaffe actor (Dr Zorba-Ben Casey), dies of cancer at 93
1986 Sarah Cunningham actress (Nurse Andrews-Trapper John MD), dies at 67
1990 Alice Sapritch actress (European Vacation), dies
1990 An Wang computer manufacturer (Wang), dies at 70 from cancer
1990 Ray Goulding comedian (Bob & Ray), dies from kidney failure at 68
1990 Rene Enriquez actor (Hill St Blues), dies from pancreatic cancer at 56
1993 Erik Andriesse Dutch painter (skulls, skeletons), dies at 35
1993 John Hersey Pulitzer prize author (Hiroshima), dies at 78
1993 Peter Roovers Dutch sculptor/teacher (war monuments), dies at 90
1993 Taylor Reed actor (Easy Money), dies of heart attack at 60
1994 Edith Porada art historian/archaeologist, dies at 81
1994 Luis Donaldo Colosio Mexican politician, assassinated
1994 Tommy Benford jazz drummer, dies at 88
1995 Anthony Standerwick Heal businessman, dies at 88
1995 Joey Long blues/cajun guitarist, dies at 62
1995 Trevor Oswald Ling religious Studies Professor, dies at 75
1996 Maria Lucia Beltran Alcayaga singer, dies at 66

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On this day...
1379 End of Gelderse war victory
1545 German Parliament opens in Worms
1550 France & England sign Peace of Boulogne
1603 Scottish king James VI becomes King James I of England
1629 1st game law passed in American colonies, by Virginia
1645 Battle at Jankov Bohemia: Sweden beatS Roman Catholic emperor Ferdinand III
1664 Roger Williams is granted a charter to colonize Rhode Island
1721 Johann Sebastian Bach opens his Brandenburgse Concerts
1734 Netherlands' William K H Friso marries princess Anne of Hanover
1765 Britain enacts Quartering Act, required colonists to provide temporary housing to British soldiers
1792 Benjamin West (US) becomes president of Royal Academy of London
1801 Aleksandr P Romanov becomes emperor of Russia
1828 Philadelphia & Columbia Railway (1st state owned) authorized
1832 Mormon Joseph Smith beaten, tarred & feathered in Ohio
1837 Canada gives blacks the right to vote
1848 State of siege proclaimed in Amsterdam
1855 Manhattan Kansas founded as New Boston KS
1860 Clipper Andrew Jackson arrives in San Francisco, 89 days out of New York
1868 Metropolitan Life Insurance Co forms
1877 University boat race between Oxford & Cambridge ends in a dead heat
1878 British frigate Eurydice sunk; 300 lost
1880 Tobacco Growers' Mutual Insurance Company incorporates in Connecticut
1882 German scientist Robert Koch discovers bacillus cause of TB
1883 1st telephone call between New York & Chicago
1887 Oscar Straus appointed 1st Jewish ambassador from US (to Turkey)
1890 Start of Sherlock Holmes "The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge" (BG)
1894 37 miners killed at Franklin WA
1898 1st automobile sold
1906 "Census of the British Empire" shows England rules 1/5 of the world
1910 83ºF highest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in March
1913 Netherlands soccer team's 1st victory over England
1913 Palace Theater opens at 1564 Broadway NYC
1920 1st US coast guard air station established (Morehead City NC)
1922 Grand National at Aintree sees only 3 horses out of 32 starters finish
1924 Greece becomes a republic
1925 KSL-AM in Salt Lake City UT begins radio transmissions
1926 The Beehive in the Hague opens 1st escalator in Netherlands
1927 Cuban chess champion, Jose Capablanca wins 33-day Grand Chess Tournie
1927 Dutch 1st Chamber condemns Belgian & Netherlands' Wielingen Treaty
1930 1st religious services telecast in US (W2XBS, New York NY)
1930 Planet Pluto named
1930 Rÿnsburgse Boys soccer team forms
1932 1st US radio broadcast from a moving train (Belle Baker, WABC from Maryland)
1933 Peter I Island incorporated as a Norwegian dependency
1934 US declares the Philippines to become independent in 1945
1935 Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour goes national on NBC Radio Network
1936 Red Wings beat Montréal Maroons in 16 minutes & 30 seconds of 6th period Stanley Cup game lasts 9 periods (176 minutes), ends 1-0
1937 Bus blew a tire, going out of control, killing 18 (Salem IL)
1937 National Gallery of Art established by Congress
1941 British troops defeat British Somalia
1941 German troops occupy El Agheila Libya
1941 Glenn Miller begins work on his 1st movie for 20th Century Fox
1941 Long Island University beats Ohio University 56-42 for NIT basketball championship
1941 Richard Wright & Paul Green's "Native Son" premieres in New York NY
1944 76 Allied officers escape Stalag Luft 3 (Great Escape)
1944 811 British bombers attack Berlin
1944 In occupied Rome, Nazis executed more than 300 civilians
1945 General Eisenhower, Montgomery & Bradley discuss advance in Germany
1945 Largest one-day airborne drop, 600 transports & 1300 gliders
1945 Operation Varsity: British, US & Canadian airborne landings East of Rhine
1945 US minesweepers reach Kerama Retto, South coast of Okinawa
1947 Congress proposes 2-term limitation on the Presidency
1947 John D Rockefeller Jr donates NYC East River site to the UN
1949 21st Academy Awards: "Hamlet", Laurence Olivier & Jane Wyman win
1949 Walter & John Huston become 1st father-and-son team to win Oscars (actor & director of "Treasure of Sierra Madre")
1950 Gracie de Moss wins LPGA Pro-Ladies Golf Championship
1950 US Ladies Figure Skating Championship won by Yvonne C Sherman
1950 US Men's Figure Skating Championship won by Richard Button
1952 Great demonstrations against apartheid in South-Africa
1953 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1955 1st seagoing oil drill rig placed in service
1955 British Army patrols withdraw from Belfast after 20 years
1955 Tennessee Williams, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" opens on Broadway for 694 performances
1958 Elvis Presley joins the army (serial number 53310761)
1959 Iraq withdraws from the Baghdad Pact
1960 US appeals court rules novel, "Lady Chatterly's Lover", not obscene
1961 New York Senate approves $55M for a baseball stadium at Flushing Meadows
1962 24th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Cincinnati beats Ohio State 71-59
1962 Benny Paret, KO'd in a welterweight title, he dies 10 days later
1962 Mick Jagger & Keith Richards perform as Little Boy Blue & Blue Boys
1964 Kennedy half-dollar issued
1965 US Ranger 9 strikes Moon, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of crater Alphonsus
1966 Selective Service announces college deferments based on performance
1967 University of Michigan holds 1st "Teach-in" after bombing of North Vietnam
1968 Mickey Wright wins Port Malabar Golf Invitational
1970 Dutch cartoonist Frans Piët ends "Sjors & Sjimmie" strip
1972 Great Britain imposes direct rule over Northern Ireland
1973 Harley Race beats Dory Funk Jr in Kansas City, to become NWA champion
1973 Immaculata beats Queens College, 59-52 to win AIAW Basketball title
1973 Professional track debut of Kip Keino defeating Jim Ryun in the mile
1973 San Francisco 49er president Lou Spadia proposes NFL expand to 30 teams
1974 36th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: North Carolina State beats Marquette 76-64; this ends UCLA's 7 year reign as NCAA basketball champions
1975 Muhammad Ali TKOs Chuck Wepner in 15 to retain the heavyweight boxing title
1976 Argentine President Isabel Perón deposed by country's military
1978 Wings release "With a Little Luck"
1979 "Ballroom" closes at Majestic Theater NYC after 116 performances
1979 10 rebounds & 10 assists, as the Spartans cruise to a 101-67 by University of Pennsylvania; Michigan State's Earvin "Magic" Johnson registers triple-double 29 points
1979 1st appearance as Australian cricket captain for Kim Hughes
1979 Columbia flown on aircraft carrier lands at Kennedy Space Center
1980 42nd NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Louisville beats UCLA 59-54
1980 ABC's nightly Iran Hostage crisis program renamed "Nightline"
1980 Capitol Records releases some rare Beatles tracks
1981 "Nightline with Ted Koppel" premieres on ABC
1981 Bombay beat Delhi by innings & 46 to win Ranji Cricket Trophy
1981 Colombia drops diplomatic relations with Cuba
1982 US sub Jacksonville collides with a Turkish freighter near Virginia
1984 Andrea Schöne skates ladies world record 5 km (7 :4.52)
1984 Igor Malkov skates world record 10 km (14 :1.51)
1984 IOC agrees to 6-team exhibition baseball tournament in Olympics
1985 Golden Raspberry Awards presented to parody Oscar Awards (Bolero wins)
1985 Jan Stephenson wins LPGA GNA Golf Classic
1985 Norman Gifford makes cricket ODI debuts at age 44 (v Australia, Sharjah)
1986 58th Academy Awards: "Out of Africa", William Hurt & Geraldine Page win
1986 NASA publishes "Strategy for Safely Returning the Space Shuttle to Flight Status"
1986 Suriname army Captain Etienne Boerenveen arrested for cocaine smuggling
1986 US & Libya clash in Gulf of Sidra
1987 1st Soul Train Music Awards: Janet Jackson, Luther Vandross win
1987 Western Australia win the Sheffield Shield by drawing cricket final vs Victoria
1988 "Gospel at Colonus" opens at Lunt Fontanne Theater NYC for 61 performances
1988 Quarterback Dan Fouts retires
1989 Mary Martin in "Peter Pan", 1st time seen on TV since 1973
1989 Worst US oil spill, Exxon's Valdez spills 11.3 million gallons off Alaska
1990 Indian troops leave Sri Lanka
1990 Tom Hunter swims world record 50 meter freestyle (21.81 seconds)
1991 "Les Miserables" opens at Auditorium Theatre, Chicago
1991 11th Golden Raspberry Awards: Ford Fairlane & Ghosts Can't Do It win
1991 Barcelona Dragons beat New York/New Jersey Knights 19-7 in their 1st WLAF game
1991 Danielle Ammaccapane wins LPGA Standard Register Ping Golf Tournament
1991 In liberated Kuwait, banks reopen
1991 New York Yankees beat New York Mets, 9-3
1991 Wrestlemania VII in Los Angeles, Hulk Hogan pins Sergeant Slaughter for championship
1992 "Jake's Women" opens at Neil Simon Theater NYC for 245 performances
1992 1st Belgian in the space, Dirk Frimout on Atlantis Space Shuttle STS-45 (Atlantis 11) launches into space
1992 Sudanese Boeing 707 crashes on mountain Hymettos at Athens; 5-6 die
1993 Ezer Weizman elected President of Israel
1994 "Carousel" opens at Beaumont Theater NYC for 322 performances
1994 "Song of Jacob Zulu" opens at Plymouth Theater NYC for 53 performances
1994 F-16 collides with C-130 Hercules above AFB in North Carolina, 120 die
1994 Robert F Kennedy Jr divorces Emily Black
1996 16th Golden Raspberry Awards: Showgirls wins
1996 Eastenders star Michael French is reported to be a homosexual
1996 Laura Davies wins LPGA Standard Register Ping Golf Tournament
1996 MTA raises NYC bridge tolls to $3.50 each way
1997 69th Academy Awards: "The English Patient", Tom Cruise & Frances McDormand win
1997 Australian parliament overturns world's 1st & only euthanasia law

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

Laos : Army Day
US : Agriculture Day

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Religious Observances
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Gabriel, patron of postmen, telephone workers

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Religious History
1774 Anglican clergyman and hymn writer John Newton wrote in a letter: 'What a mercy it is to be separated in spirit, conversation, and interest from the world that knows not God.'
1818 American statesman Henry Clay wrote: 'All religions united with government are more or less inimical to liberty. All separated from government are compatible with liberty.'
1940 Dr. Samuel Cavert of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America officiated at a Protestant Easter service in New York City. It was the first religious program to be broadcast over television, and was carried by local NBC affiliate TV station W2XBS, in NYC.
1980 El Salvador's leading human rights activist, Archbishop Oscar Romero, 62, was assassinated by a sniper while saying mass in a hospital chapel.
1982 Five congregations in the eastern San Francisco Bay area became the first to declare themselves publicly as sanctuary churches, in an effort to help refugees from Central America establish themselves in the U.S. during political and military unrest in their native countries.

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Thought for the day :
"Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely."

[Valin]

http://play.rbn.com/?url=star/star/g2demand/slideshow/natworld/iraq/rally032203/rally.smil&proto=rtsp

Slide show: Thousands rally at Mn. State Capitol to support troops
MUST SEE

[Soaring Feather]

Good Morning Sam!!

I'm listening and looking those donuts over!

How be ya today, my friend??

[SAMWolf]

Morning feather. I be fine today, except that I have to go to work.

[SAMWolf]

Good morning, CholeraJoe.

[SAMWolf]

1949 Walter & John Huston become 1st father-and-son team to win Oscars (actor & director of "Treasure of Sierra Madre")

Great movie!!.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks for the link Valin.

[Darksheare]

Ah yes, camels.
The irascible cantankerous slime spitting creatures.

Never feed one a marsh-mallow.

[SAMWolf]

Never feed one a marsh-mallow.

LOL! SPeaking from personal experience?

[Darksheare]

I deny all knowledge.

The kinda drool this gooey white slime and froth funny.
Especially when they decide to chew cud.. then it gets green and chunky.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks, Time for breakfast!

[Jen]

FALL IN to the FReeper Foxhole!

To be removed from this list, please send me a blank private reply with "REMOVE" in the subject line! Thanks! Jen

[Darksheare]

OOps.
Sorry.