The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The Harpers Ferry Raid (10/16/1859) - Sep. 4th, 2003

http://www.wvculture.org/history/jnobrown.html ^

[tmprincesa]

Lord,

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Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

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God Bless America
...................................................................................... ...........................................

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John Brown
and
the Harpers Ferry Raid

On October 16, 1859, abolitionist John Brown and several followers seized the United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry. The actions of Brown's men brought national attention to the emotional divisions concerning slavery.

John Brown

John Brown was born in Connecticut in 1800 and became interested in the abolitionist movement around 1835. In 1855, Brown and several of his sons moved to Kansas, a territory deeply divided over the slavery issue. On Pottawotamie Creek, on the night of May 24, 1856, Brown and his sons murdered three men who supported slavery, although none actually owned slaves. Brown and his sons escaped. Brown spent the next three years collecting money from wealthy abolitionists in order to establish a colony for runaway slaves. To accomplish this, Brown needed weapons and decided to capture the arsenal at Harpers Ferry.

In 1794, President George Washington had selected Harpers Ferry, Virginia, and Springfield, Massachusetts, as the sites of the new national armories. In choosing Harpers Ferry, he noted the benefit of great waterpower provided by both the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers. In 1817, the federal government contracted with John H. Hall to manufacture his patented rifles at Harpers Ferry. The armory and arsenal continued producing weapons until its destruction at the outbreak of the Civil War.


Harpers Ferry, 1859

In the summer of 1859, John Brown, using the pseudonym Isaac Smith, took up residence near Harpers Ferry at a farm in Maryland. He trained a group of twenty-two men, including his sons Oliver, Owen, and Watson, in military maneuvers. On the night of Sunday, October 16, Brown and all but three of the men marched into Harpers Ferry, capturing several watchmen. The first victim of the raid was an African-American railroad baggage handler named Hayward Shepherd, who was shot and killed after confronting the raiders. During the night, Brown captured several other prisoners, including Lewis Washington, the great-grand-nephew of George Washington.

There were two keys to the success of the raid. First, the men needed to capture the weapons and escape before word reached Washington, D. C. The raiders cut the telegraph lines but allowed a Baltimore and Ohio train to pass through Harpers Ferry after detaining it for five hours. When the train reached Baltimore the next day at noon, the conductor contacted authorities in Washington. Second, Brown expected local slaves to rise up against their owners and join the raid. Not only did this fail to happen, but townspeople began shooting at the raiders.



Armory workers discovered Brown's men in control of the building on Monday morning, October 17. Local militia companies surrounded the armory, cutting off Brown's escape routes. Shortly after seven o'clock, a Harpers Ferry townsperson, Thomas Boerly, was shot and killed near the corner of High and Shenandoah streets. During the day, two other citizens were killed, George W. Turner and Harpers Ferry Mayor Fontaine Beckham. When Brown realized he had no way to escape, he selected nine prisoners and moved them to the armory's small fire engine house, which later became known as John Brown's Fort.

With their plans falling apart, the raiders panicked. William H. Leeman tried to escape by swimming across the Potomac River, but was shot and killed. The townspeople, many of whom had been drinking all day on this unofficial holiday, used Leeman's body for target practice. At 3:30 on Monday afternoon, authorities in Washington ordered Colonel Robert E. Lee to Harpers Ferry with a force of Marines to capture Brown. Lee's first action was to close the town's saloons in order to curb the random violence. At 6:30 on the morning of Tuesday, October 18, Lee ordered Lieutenant Israel Green and a group of men to storm the engine house. At a signal from Lieutenant J.E.B. Stuart, the engine house door was knocked down and and the Marines began taking prisoners. Green seriously wounded Brown with his sword. Brown was taken to the Jefferson County seat of Charles Town for trial.


Arraignment of John Brown Drawing by James E. Taylor (1899) of the arraignment of Brown at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Charles Town.

Of Brown's original twenty-two men, John H. Kagi, Jeremiah G. Anderson, William Thompson, Dauphin Thompson, Brown's sons Oliver and Watson, Stewart Taylor, Leeman, and free African Americans Lewis S. Leary and Dangerfield Newby had been killed during the raid. John E. Cook and Albert Hazlett escaped into Pennsylvania, but were captured and brought back to Charles Town. Brown, Aaron D. Stevens, Edwin Coppoc, and free African Americans John A. Copeland and Shields Green were all captured and imprisoned. Five raiders escaped and were never captured: Brown's son Owen, Charles P. Tidd, Barclay Coppoc, Francis J. Merriam, and free African American Osborne P. Anderson. One Marine, Luke Quinn, was killed during the storming the engine house. Two slaves, belonging to Brown's prisoners Colonel Lewis Washington and John Allstadt, also lost their lives. It is unknown whether or not they voluntarily took up arms with Brown. One drowned while trying to escape and the other died in the Charles Town prison following the raid. Local residents at the time believed the two took part in the raid. To discredit Brown, residents later claimed that these two slaves had been taken prisoner and that no slaves actually participated in the raid.

John Brown, still recovering from a sword wound, stood trial at the Jefferson County Courthouse on October 26. Five days later, a jury found him guilty of treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia. Judge Richard Parker sentenced Brown to death and he was hanged in Charles Town on December 2. Before walking to the scaffold, he noted the inevitability of a national civil war: "I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood." Following additional trials, Shields Green, John A. Copeland, John E. Cook, and Edwin Coppoc were executed on December 16, and Aaron D. Stevens and Albert Hazlett were hanged on March 16, 1860.


John Brown's Fort On October 17, 1859, Brown removed his remaining prisoners to the Armory engine house, where he was later captured. After the Civil War, John Brown's Fort became a tourist attraction and was sent to the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. It was returned to a farm near Harpers Ferry then moved to the campus of Storer College, and today stands in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, one hundred feet from its original location.

Northern abolitionists immediately used the executions as an example of the government's support of slavery. John Brown became their martyr, a hero murdered for his belief that slavery should be abolished. In reality, Brown and his men were prosecuted and executed for taking over a government facility. Still, as time went on, Brown's name became a symbol of pro-Union, anti-slavery beliefs. After the Civil War, a school was established at Harpers Ferry for African Americans. The leaders of Storer College always emphasized the courage and beliefs of John Brown for inspiration. In 1881, African-American leader Frederick Douglass delivered a classic speech at the school honoring Brown. Twenty-five years later, W.E.B. DuBois and Martinsburg newspaper editor J.R. Clifford recognized Harpers Ferry's importance to African Americans and chose Storer College as the site for a meeting of the Second Niagara Movement, which later became the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Those in attendance walked at daybreak to John Brown's Fort. In 1892, the fort had been sent to the Chicago World's Fair and then brought back to a farm near Harpers Ferry. Today, the restored fort has been rebuilt at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park near its original location.

[tmprincesa]

Preliminary Events

1858

Summer John E. Cook, John Brown’s advance man for the raid, arrives in Harper’s Ferry. He takes a job at Lock 33 on the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal across the Potomac River on Maryland Heights. While living in the town, he studies the layout of the town, and especially the government armory and arsenal and becomes familiar with the local militia units. He also makes love to a local girl, Mary Kennedy.

June 16 At Springfield, Illinois, senatorial candidate Abraham Lincoln gives a speech at the close of the Republican state convention. He says, "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free."

December 20-21 John Brown and Aaron D. Stevens, in Kansas near the Missouri border, pull a night raid into Missouri, freeing a number of slaves and stealing wagons, horses, mules, and other goods.

1859

January Because of Brown’s Missouri raid, President James Buchanan offers a $250 reward for the capture of John Brown.

Mid March With the help of his friend Allan Pinkerton in Chicago, John Brown moves his freed slaves by rail into Canada.

April John Cook has to marry Mary Kennedy who is pregnant. A few months after the wedding, she gives birth to a son.

May 9-19 At a meeting of the Southern Commercial Convention in Vicksburg, Mississippi, southern slave owners call for the reopening of the African slave trade which was banned in 1808 by an act of Congress and in 1820 made an act of piracy punishable by death.

July 3 John Brown arrives in Harper’s Ferry with his two sons Owen and Oliver, and Jeremiah Anderson. He rents a farm on Maryland Heights belonging to Dr. Booth Kennedy. This farm is about five miles from the Ferry. Brown tells his neighbors and townspeople at the Ferry that he is "Isaac Smith," a cattle buyer from New York.

August 6 William and Dauphin Thompson and Watson Brown arrive at the Kennedy Farm. Also arriving at the farm this month are Charles Plummer Tidd, Aaron D. Stevens, William H. Leeman, Albert Hazlett, Barclay and Edwin Coppoc, Stewart Taylor, and Dangerfield Newby. John Henry Kagi is in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

August 11 Kagi receives fifteen boxes of Sharps rifles and Maynard revolvers ordered by Brown for the impending raid. The boxes are later moved to the Kennedy Farm. Sometime during this period, John Brown has Martha Brown, the wife of Oliver, and his daughter Anne, then fifteen, come to the farm to care for the house and men. Anne will also act as lookout for prying neighbors.

August 19-21 John Brown meets with Frederick Douglass and Shields Green at an old stone quarry in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Brown does everything he can to convince Douglass to come with him on the raid. ‘When I strike," Brown tells him, "the bees will swarm, and I shall want you to help hive them." Douglass tells Brown that Virginia will "blow him and his hostages sky-high, rather han that he should hold Harper’s Ferry an hour." Shields Green decides to join Brown’s raiders.

September Late in the month, 950 pikes ordered from Charles Blair arrive in Chambersburg. Osborn Perry Anderson also arrives at the Kennedy Farm.

September 30 John Brown sends Martha and Anne back to his farm in North Elba, New York. He sends John Cook down the Charles Town pike to gather information concerning the slaves in the area. Cook reports back that the slaves are discontented and ready to "swarm like bees."

October 15 Three more people join the raiders at the Kennedy Farm: John A. Copeland, Lewis Leary, and Francis Jackson Meriam, who brings Brown $600 in gold. That night, Brown announces that the time for the raid has come.

[tmprincesa]

The Raid

October 16

Dawn Brown calls his men into the farmhouse living room for a round of prayers and Bible readings before the raid.

Late morning Brown explains his battle plans, and assigns each man a special task. He asks Owen Brown, Barclay Coppoc, and Meriam to remain behind at the farmhouse as a rear guard.


"Attack On The Insurgents At The Bridge By The Railroad Men" during John Brown Raid, October 1859. The uncovered iron span, known as the "Winchester Span" because it carried the tracks of the Winchester and Potomac Railroad, was erected in 1850-1852. Year: 1859. Image Credit: Historic Photo Collection, Harpers Ferry NHP.

8:00 P.M. John Brown gives the order: "Men, get on your arms; we will proceed to the Ferry." The eighteen men assigned to the raid take up their rifles and pistols, put on black shawls, and head out into a drizzling rain storm.

10:30 P.M. Kagi and Stevens arrive at the Potomac Bridge connecting Harper’s Ferry with Maryland. They capture the watchman, William Williams. Brown and the other men arrive at the bridge soon after with the wagon. Cook and Tidd fall out to cut the telegraph lines east and west of the town. The remaining men head directly for the armory and capture the night watchman there, Daniel Whelan. Brown tells Whelan and Williams, "I came here from Kansas, and this is a slave state; I want to free all the negroes in this state; I have possession now of the United States armory, and if the citizens interfere with me I must only burn the town and have blood." Soon after their arrival, Brown’s men take the arsenal next to the Shenandoah River. Albert Hazlett and Edwin Coppoc are put in charge of it. Brown also sends out two men, Kagi and Copeland to capture Hall’s Rifle Works on Lower Hall Island, and six men, Osborn Anderson, Stevens, Tidd, Cook, Leary, and Shields Green, to capture local militia leader Colonel Lewis W. Washington, a grand nephew of George Washington.

October 17

Midnight Anderson, Stevens, and the four other men arrive at Lewis Washington’s farm. They take Washington prisoner and force him to surrender a sword given to George Washington by Frederick the Great to Osborn Anderson, a black man. On the way back to the armory, Brown’s men also take John Allstadt, another local militia leader, and his son prisoner. At the Ferry, Patrick Higgins arrives at the Maryland Bridge to relieve watchman William Williams. Oliver Brown shoots at him but misses. Higgins runs to the safety of the Wager House Hotel and raises the alarm.


John Brown

1:25 A.M. An eastern-bound Baltimore & Ohio train arrives at the Ferry. Patrick Higgins tries to convince Conductor A. J. Phelps not to allow his train to proceed over the Potomac Bridge.

1:30 P.M. Conductor Phelps and Hayward Shepherd, a free black who serves as the town’s baggage master, go forward to investigate the situation at the bridge. The raiders fire on them. Shepherd is shot in the chest very near to his heart, but he manages to get back to the station before he collapses. The shot awakens a medical doctor, John D. Starry who has a room overlooking the B&O train station and the Potomac Bridge. Starry dresses hurriedly and rushes out into the rainy night carrying his medical bag. At the station, he examines Shepherd and treats him as best he can, but he realizes Shepherd is mortally wounded.

2:00 A.M. As Brown moves his men from point to point, Doctor Starry follows them around to find out what they are doing. They refuse to tell him why they have raided the town.


This circa 1862 photograph shows the main entrance to the Harpers Ferry Armory. The "fire engine and guard house" (John Brown Fort) was the first building on the left as you entered the Armory Grounds.

3:00 A.M. Brown tells Conductor Phelps that he can take his train over the Potomac River Bridge into Maryland, but Phelps does not trust him and refuses to allow the train to leave until dawn when he can see the condition of the bridge.

4:00 A.M. The men sent to capture Washington and the Allstadts return by wagon to the armory yard with their prisoners. Later, they are moved into the Engine House.

5:05 A.M. Starry observes a wagon driven by John E. Cook leaving the armory yard and proceeding over the Potomac Bridge. The wagon is guarded by slaves belonging to the Allstadts and Lewis Washington. They are armed with pikes.


Lieutenant J.E.B. Stuart

DAWN Conductor Phelps allows his train to pass over the Potomac Bridge once he sees Brown’s men have not booby trapped it. Doctor Starry sends messengers to Charlestown and other nearby towns, and orders the bell in the Lutheran Church to be rung to alert the town. He then rides out to warn workers at the armory. Later, he rides to Charlestown.

7:05 A.M. Phelps arrives in Monocacy, Maryland, and sends out an urgent telegram alerting railroad officials of the raid at the Ferry. John W. Garnett, the president of the railroad, sees Phelps’s dispatch and telegraphs messages to U.S. President James Buchanan, Governor Henry Wise of Virginia, and Major General George H. Stewart in Baltimore.

10:00 A.M. Doctor Starry has arrived in Charlestown and discovers that the Jefferson County Guards have mobilized and are preparing to board a special train to the Ferry. At 10, the train begins its journey.

A company of militia in Frederick, Maryland, move out to the Ferry in response to the Phelps dispatches.



Noon The Jefferson Guards arrive at the Ferry. Other militia companies have also arrived, including one from Bolivar Heights under Captain Botts who has ordered his men to hold the Galt House Hotel and the Shenandoah Bridge. The Jefferson Guards cross the Potomac River west of the town and march down to the Potomac Bridge, driving Brown’s men back through the town. Most reach the relative safety of the Engine House in the armory grounds, but Dangerfield Newby is shot and killed. One angry villager cuts off Newby’s ears for souvenirs. Another allows hogs to rout on the body. Brown attempts to negotiate a cease fire by sending out William Thompson with one of his prisoners under a flag of truce. Thompson is captured and brought to the Galt House. Later he is moved to the Wager House. Brown sends out Aaron Stevens and Watson Brown with A. M. Kitzmiller, the acting superintendent of the armory. Both Stevens and Watson are shot. Watson crawls back into the Engine House, but Stevens lies outside.

1:00 A.M. One of Brown’s hostages, Joseph A. Brua, volunteers to take Stevens to safety. He carries Stevens to the Wager House and returns to the Engine House as a hostage. William H. Leeman attempts to flee across the Potomac River but a militiaman shoots him before he reaches the opposite side. Armed men use his body for target practice for the rest of the day. At some point in the afternoon, Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee and Lieutenant J.E.B. Stuart, who have been urgently summoned to Washington, meet with President Buchanan and Secretary of War John Floyd. Lee is ordered to proceed to Harper’s Ferry by train and take charge of all forces there using his brevet rank of colonel earned during the Mexican War. Stuart goes with him.


Colonel Robert E. Lee

2:00 P.M. One of Brown’s men shoots George W. Turner, a slaveowner. About this time, Doctor Starry organizes a raid on Hall’s Rifle Works which is still held by Kagi, Lewis Leary, and John A. Copeland. He leaves the raid in the hands of a young man named Lewis and goes to his room to change into dry clothing.

3:30 P.M. Starry returns to see the results of the raid on Hall’s Rifle Works. Kagi is dead, and Leary is mortally wounded. James H. Holt has captured Copeland. Holt and other townspeople attempt to hang Copeland with a rope made from handkerchiefs tied together. Starry positions his horse between Copeland and the enraged citizens of the town. He keeps Copeland backed into a corner until a law enforcement official can take him into custody.

4:00 P.M. The mayor of Harper’s Ferry, Fontaine Beckham, moves cautiously up to the water tower just beyond the armory gate to get a look at the people threatening his town. He is unarmed. Edwin Coppoc, at the Engine House, sees him and fires. Beckham falls dead. Christine Fouke acts as a screen for men who retrieve the dead mayor, bringing his body to the railway station.



Harry Hunter, a grand nephew of Beckham, leads a drunken mob into the Wager House with the intention of killing Will Thompson and Aaron Stevens. Christine Fouke tries to intercede for young Thompson, saying that the men should leave the boy to the law, but the men are determined. They grab Thompson, drag him to the Potomac Bridge, and shoot him. As with Leeman, militiamen use Thompson’s body for target practice.

A Martinsburg company under Captain E. G. Alburtis arrives at the Ferry. They quickly drive Brown’s remaining men in the armory into the Engine House and free thirty to forty hostages.

Some time after these incidents, John E. Cook returns to the Potomac and scouts out the situation from the Maryland side. Seeing that Brown’s men are under heavy fire, he attempts to draw off that fire by by climbing up an embankment and firing toward the town. An answering shot severs the tree limb he is leaning against and sends him tumbling fiften feet down the embankment. He retreats to the schoolhouse that Brown’s Maryland forces took that morning and tells them that Brown is trapped at the Ferry. On Cook’s advice, the men start running for the Pennsylvania border.


Trial of John Brown Sketched by Porte Crayon, reproduced from Leslie's Illustrated Weekly. Brown is pictured lying on a stretcher, still recovering from the sword wound inflicted by Israel Green.

Nightfall Hostilities cease. The gathering militias set up a loose picket at the Engine House where Brown and his remaining men are trapped with several hostages. Colonel Robert W. Baylor sends Samuel Strider into the Engine House under a flag of truce in an attempt to get Brown to surrender. Brown refuses. Captain Thomas Sinn of Frederick, Maryland, also visits Brown in the Engine House. He also fails to convince Brown, who is wearing the sword of Frederick the Great, to surrender.

11:00 P.M. Lee and Stuart arrive at Sandy Hook, Maryland, a mile and a half from the Ferry. He takes command of a company of 90 Marines sent there from Washington, and marches them immediately to Harper’s Ferry. He has the Marines surround the Engine House and starts planning the dawn assault.

After Midnight Oliver Brown begs to be shot and put out of his misery. His father tells him to die like a man. Oliver soon dies.



Dawn Colonel Lee has Lieutenant Stuart carry a note to Brown demanding his surrender. Brown refuses and closes and bars the doors of the Engine House. Stuart waves his hat up and down as a signal to begin the assault. The Marines attack the doors with sledgehammers, but to no effect. They find a heavy ladder and use that as a battering ram. In two blows, they create a small opening in the right hand door which is split, and they storm into the building. Lieutenant Israel Green, who leads the assault, attacks Brown with the dress sword he brought by mistake from Washington. The sword, which was never meant for combat, bends on Brown’s leather belt. Green grasps the sword by the ruined blade and hits Brown over the head with it, knocking him unconscious. The raid is over.

Additional Sources:

johnbrownsbody.net
www.wvculture.org
www.civilwarhome.com
www.sscnet.ucla.edu
www.bridgingthewatershed.org
www.easternct.edu
teachpol.tcnj.edu
www.nps.gov
www.usmcartist.com
www.wvculture.org
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk
www.civilwar-va.com
cavalry.km.ru
data2.itc.nps.gov

[tmprincesa]

Aftermath

On October 25 in Charlestown, Virginia, Brown and his men were formally indicted by a grand jury. John Brown’s trial began the next day. One of Brown’s lawyers introduced an insanity defense. Brown dismissed the defense as a "miserable artifice and pretext." Another of his lawyers argued that Brown could not be tried for treason by the state of Virginia because his crimes had been committed on property belonging to the United States government. Andrew Hunter, arguing the case for the state of Virginia, asserted that Virginia could in fact try Brown on the basis of state’s rights.

On November 2, Brown was sentenced to hang one month from that day. A month later, on December 2, he was hanged while surrounded by militia units from the state of Virginia. His wife took his body by train to North Elba, New York. There, he was buried on December 8.



The following year, a northerner, Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States. His election caused a number of states in the deep South to secede from the Union, starting with South Carolina on December 20, 1860. Lincoln took office on March 2, 1861. The following month, on April 12, 1861, Confederate soldiers under the command of P. G. T. Beauregard fired on Fort Sumter in the harbor at Charleston, South Carolina, initiating a war against the North. Six days later, Virginia militia under orders from Henry Wise, the man who had served as the governor of Virginia at the time of the Brown raid, swept into Harper’s Ferry, intending to take the armory and arsenal for the defense of Virginia. Fleeing Federal troops had set fire to and blown up the government works before the militia troops arrived, but the militia quickly put out the fires and managed to save the armory’s gun making equipment.

During the course of the war, Harper’s Ferry changed hands between Union and Confederate forces eight times. Both armies decimated the town, but neither side destroyed the little Engine House where Brown had made his last stand. It can still be seen today at Harpers Ferry National Park.

[tmprincesa]

[tmprincesa]

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[E.G.C.]

Good morning, tmprincesa and everyone here at the Freeper Foxhole.

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[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on September 04:
1383 Amadeus VIII, duke of Savoye/last antipope (Felix V (1439-48)
1736 Robert Raikes England, Sunday school pioneer
1768 Vicomte François René de Chateaubriand, French writer and chef who gave his name to a style of steak.
1802 Marcus Whitman missionary, led to US securing Oregon
1803 Sarah Childress Polk 1st lady
1810 Donald McKay US naval architect, built fastest clipper ships
1824 Anton Bruckner Austria, Wagner disciple & monumental bore
1824 Phoebe Cary Cincinnati, American poet (Poems of Alice & Phoebe Cary)
1825 Dadabhai Naoroji 1st Indian in British parliament
1846 Daniel Burnham US, architect/built skyscrapers
1872 Darius Milhaud Aix-en-Provence France, composer (Maximilien)
1907 Leo Castelli Trieste, American art dealer
1908 Richard Wright US, author (Native Son, Uncle Tom's Children)
1912 Alexander Liberman editor/painter/photographer (639)
1915 Dick Thomas Phila Pa, TV host (Village Barn)
1917 Henry Ford II automaker (Ford)
1918 Gerald Wilson Shelby Miss, orch leader (Redd Foxx)
1918 Paul Harvey Tulsa Okla, news commentator (The rest of the story)
1918 William Talbert tennis doubles champ (US 1942, 45, 46, 48)
1919 Howard Morris NYC, comedic actor (High Anxiety)
1920 Craig Claiborne food columnist (NY Times Cookbook)
1926 Robert J Lagomarsino (Rep-R-Ca)
1928 Dick York Fort Wayne Ind, actor (Darrin-Bewitched, Inherit the Wind)
1928 Donald E Petersen Minn, exec (Ford Motors)
1929 Thomas Eagleton (Sen-D-Mo, Dem VP candidate 1972)
1933 Richard Castellano Bronx, actor (Godfather, Lovers & Other Strangers)
1937 Dawn Fraser Australia, 100m freestyle (Olympic-gold-1956, 60, 64)
1938 Leonard Frey Bkln NY, actor (Best of West, Mr Smith)
1942 Ray Floyd Fort Bragg NC, PGA golfer (Masters 1976)
1943 Giuseppi Gentile Italy, triple jumper (Olympic-bronze-1968)
1944 Jennifer Salt LA Calif, actress (Sisters, Soap, Wedding Party)
1947 Alan Greisman Sally Field's husband/producer (Fletch, Surrender)
1949 Tom Watson KC Mo, PGA golfer (British Open 1975,77,80,82)
1951 Judith Ivey El Paso Texas, actress (Lady in Red, Hello Again)
1953 Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs NYC, actor (Freddie-Welcome Back Kotter)
1959 Armin Kogler Austria, skier (2-time winner of jumping World Cup)
1959 William Kennedy Smith Kennedy accused of rape in Florida (1991)
1960 Peter Virgile soap actor
1965 Terri Lynn Doss Chicago Ill, playmate (Jul, 1988)
1966 Debra Lewin South Burlington Vermont, Miss Vermont-America (1991)
1968 John Preston Utah, actor (Greg-General Hospital)
1970 Ione Skye (Leitch) Hertfordshire England, actress (Say Anything)
1970 Jennifer Nakken Cedar City Utah, Miss Utah-America (1991)
1972 Danny Ponce Waltham Mass, actor (Willie-Valerie/Hogan Family)
1972 Merald Knight Atlanta Ga, singer (Gladys Knights & Pips)
2179 Nyota Uhura Nairobi Kenya, communications officer (Star Trek)

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Deaths which occurred on September 04:
1553 Cornelia da Nomatalcino monk converted to Judaism, burned at stake
1864 John Hunt Morgan (Confederate cavalry leader) killed in Greeneville, Tennessee
1907 Edvard Hagerup Grieg, Norwegian composer (Peer Gynt Suite), dies at 64
1965 Albert Schweitzer dies
1975 Walter Tetley voice (Sherman-Bullwinkle Show), dies at 60
1981 Verne Rowe actor (Verne-Fernwood 2 Night), dies at 59
1985 George O'Brien actor, dies of a stroke at 85
1985 Isabel Jeans actress, dies at 93
1990 Irene Dunne actress (5 oscars), dies of heart failure at 91
1991 Charlie Barnet saxophonist, dies of pneumonia at 77
1991 Dottie West country singer, dies at 58 in a car crash
1991 Thomas Tryon actor (Cardinal)/writer (Other), dies at 65
1995 William Moses Kunstler, UCLA attorney (Chicago 7), dies at 78

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1965 BRANCH JAMES A. PARK FOREST IL.
[SURVIVAL UNLIKELY REMAINS RET 03/92]
1965 JEWELL EUGENE M. TOPEKA KS.
[CRASH EXPLODE NO PARA SEEN]
1966 BLISS RONALD G. SAN DIEGO CA.
[03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV,ALIVE IN 98]
1966 MC NISH THOMAS M. NASHVILLE TN.
[03/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL IN 98]
1966 NASMYTH JOHN H. SAN GABRIEL CA.
[02/18/73 RELEASED BY DRV,ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1966 SALZARULO RAYMOND P. FALLANSHEE WV.
[REMAINS IDENTIFIED 11 JAN 91]

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

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On this day...
422 St Boniface I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
476 Romulus Augustulus, last Roman emperor in west, is deposed
1024 Conrad II (the Sailor) chosen German king
1479 After four years of war, Spain agrees to allow a Portuguese monopoly of trade along Africa's west coast and Portugal acknowledges Spain's rights in the Canary Islands.
1609 Navigator Henry Hudson discovers island of Manhattan (or 0911)
1618 "Rodi" avalanche destroys Plurs Switzerland, 1,500 killed
1781 Los Angeles founded in Bahia de las Fumas by 44 settlers, (Valley of Smokes)
1807 Robert Fulton begins operating his steamboat
1820 Czar Alexander declares that Russian influence in North America extends as far south as Oregon and closes Alaskan waters to foreigners
1833 1st newsboy hired (Barney Flaherty-NY Sun)
1842 Work on Koln cathedral recommences after 284-year hiatus
1862 Gen Lee invades North with 50,000 Confederate troops
1862 North Beach & Mission Railway Company organized in SF
1864 Bread riots in Mobile, Alabama
1866 1st Hawaiian daily newspaper published
1870 3rd French republic proclaimed as they overthrow their king
1882 1st district lit by electricty (NY's Pearl Street Station)
1885 1st cafeteria opens (NYC)
1886 Geronimo is captured, ending last major US-Indian war
1888 George Eastman patents 1st roll-film camera & registers "Kodak"
1911 Garros sets world altitude record of 4,250 m (13,944 ft)
1915 The U.S. military places Haiti under martial law to quell a rebellion in its capital Port-au-Prince.
1916 Christy Mathewson & Mordecai Brown final baseball game
1918 US troops land in Archangel, Russia, stay 10 months
1920 Last day of Julian civil calendar (in parts of Bulgaria)
1923 NY Yankee Sad Sam Jones no-hits Phila A's, 2-0
1927 Charles Lindbergh visits Boise, Idaho, on his cross-country tour
1933 Coup against Cuban president De Cespedes by Fulgencio Batista
1933 1st airplane to exceed 300 mph (483 kph), JR Wendell, Glenview, Il
1937 Doris Kopsky, becomes 1st NABA woman cycling champion (4:22.4)
1939 The Polish ghetto of Mir is exterminated
1941 Yanks beat Red Sox 6-3 & clinch their 12th & earliest pennant
1945 Ruben Fine wins 4 simultaneous rapid chess games blindfolded
1945 US regains possession of Wake Island from Japan
1948 Queen Wilhelmina of Netherlands abdicates
1949 Marie Robie sinks 393 yd hole-in-one (1st hole in Furnace Brook)
1950 1st helicopter rescue of American pilot behind enemy lines
1950 D McI Hodgson of St Ann Bay, Nova Scotia catches a 997 lb tuna
1951 1st transcontinental TV broadcast, by Pres Truman
1951 NBC extends to become a 61 station coast-to-coast network
1953 Yanks become 1st team to win 5 consecutive championships
1954 1st passage of McClure Strait, fabled Northwest Passage completed
1954 Peter B Cortese of the US achieves a one-arm deadlift of 370 lbs; 22 lbs over triple his body weight, at York, Pennsylvania
1957 Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering Central High School in Little Rock.
1957 Ford Motor Co introduces the Edsel
1959 "Mack the Knife" was banned from radio -- at least from WCBS Radio in New York City. The ban was due to teenage stabbings in the NYC
1961 US authorizes Agency for International Development
1962 Beatles record "How Do You Do It"
1964 Forth Road Bridge opens in England over the "Firth of Forth"
1964 NASA launches its 1st Orbital Geophysical Observatory (OGO-1)
1964 "Gilligan's Island" begins its 98-show run on CBS
1965 Beatles' "Help!," single goes #1 & stays #1 for 3 weeks
1966 Houston Oilers holds Denver Broncos to no 1st downs winning 45-7
1967 6.5 earthquake of Kolya Dam India, kills 200
1967 Michigan Gov. George Romney told a TV interviewer he'd undergone a "brainwashing" by U.S. officials during a 1965 visit to Vietnam
1970 George Harrison releases "My Sweet Lord" single
1971 Alaskan 727 crashes into Chilkoot Mountain, kills 109 (Alaska)
1972 US swimmer Mark Spitz becomes 1st athlete to win 7 olympic gold medals
1978 NY Yankee pitcher Ron Guidry wins his 20th (on way to 25-3 season)
1981 Longest game at Fenway Park completed in 20, Mariners-8, Red Sox-7
1981 Newscaster David Brinkley is released by NBC
1981 Seattle Mariners beat Boston Red Sox, 8-7, in 20 inn (started 9/3)
1983 Greg LeMond becomes only American to win cycling's Road Championship
1983 Scott Michael Pellaton sets barefoot waterski speed rec (119.36 mph)
1985 Igor Paklin of the USSR set a new high jump world record at 7-11 12
1985 NY Mets Gary Carter's 2 HRs ties record of 5 HRs in 2 games
1986 189.42 million shares traded in NY Stock Exchange
1988 Mike Tyson crashes a silver BMW into a tree near Catskills NY
1988 Phoenix Cardinals play 1st regular-season NFL game
1990 Jerry Lewis' 25th Muscular Dystrophy telethon raises $44,172,186
1991 Rte 35 Theater in Hazlit, the last drive-in in NJ, closes
1996 Whitewater prosecutors had Susan McDougal held in contempt for refusing to tell a grand jury whether President Clinton had lied at her trial.
1999 More than 60 people were killed when Chechnyan terrorists detonated a car bomb near an apartment building in Dagestan, Russia.

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

Namibia, South Africa : Settlers' Day ( Monday )
US, Canada, Guam, Virgin Islands : Labor Day (1894) (Monday)
Cook a Great Meal Day
Mental Health Workers Week (Day 5)
National Ice Cream Sandwich Month

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Religious Observances
RC-Vatican City : Triumph of the Cross
Luth : Commemoration of Albert Schweitzer, missionary

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Religious History
1645 The first Lutheran church building erected in America was dedicated at Easton (near Bethlehem), Pennsylvania.
1802 Birth of Marcus Whitman, American Presbyterian and pioneer medical missionary. In 1836 his family became the first whites to reach the Pacific coast by wagon train. Whitman and his wife Narcissa were murdered by the Cayuse Indians in present-day Washington state in 1847.
1813 "The Religious Remembrancer" (later renamed "The Christian Observer") was first published in Philadelphia. It was the first weekly religious newspaper in the U.S., and in the world.
1847 Anglican clergyman Henry Francis Lyte, 54, suffering from asthma and consumption, penned the words to his hymn, "Abide With Me," before preaching his last sermon in Devonshire, England. (Lyte died 2-1/2 months later.)
1973 The Assemblies of God opened its first theological graduate school in Springfield, MO, making it the second Pentecostal denomination to establish its own school of theology. (The first such school was opened by Oral Roberts in Tulsa.)

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

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Thought for the day :
"Put your brain in gear before starting your mouth."

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You might be from Los Angeles if...
You know what neighborhood someone lives in by the degree of damage incurred during the riots.

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Murphys Law of the day...(Jones's Law)
The man who can smile when things go wrong has thought of someone he can blame it on.

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Cliff Clavin says, it's a little known fact that...
If your right ear itches, someone is speaking well of you.
If your left ear itches, someone is speaking ill of you.

[CholeraJoe]

I've always thought it ironic that Lee and Stuart, great Confederate soldiers, led the Federal Troops again Brown. In today's world he would be branded a terrorist. One person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter.

[aomagrat]

Today's classic warship, USS Kite (AMS-22)

YMS-374 class minesweeper
Displacement. 270 t.
Lenght. 136'
Beam. 25'
Draft. 8'
Speed. 15 k.
Complement. 32
Armament. 1 3", 2 20mm.; 3 dcp., 2 dct.

USS YMS-374 was launched 17 February 1944 by Weaver Shipyards, Orange, Tex.; and commissioned 31 May 1944, Lt. (j.g.) Robert A. Harris in command.

After shakedown out of Little Creek, Va., and minesweeping operations in Massachusetts Bay, YMS-374 cleared Boston 30 September and steamed toward the Pacific war zone. The minesweeper arrived Pearl Harbor 18 November and following formation sweeping maneuvers, sailed 22 January 1945 escorting LST Flotilla 21 to Saipan.

As the struggle on the "road to Japan" was intensified, the minesweeper prepared for conquest of Iwo Jima. Arriving off the volcanic island 17 February, she cleared lanes for landings scheduled 2 days later. Following the invasion YMS-374 made antisubmarine patrols, escorted support ships, and laid smoke screens before retiring to the Philippines and arriving Leyte 8 March.

The minesweeper steamed into Saipan 28 March and for nearly 5 months she operated in the Marianas on ASW patrols, convoy escort, submarine training exercises, and plane guard duty for crews of downed B-29 bombers. After the fighting stopped YMS-374 sailed for Kakyoto Island on the southwestern coast of Korea to clear approaches to Jinsen for the landing of occupation troops. She swept Korean waters until she sailed 7 September for minesweeping operations in the Nagasaki - Sasebo area.

YMS-374 departed Japan 29 December and arrived on the West Coast in January 1946.

After a year of operations out of California she was reclassified AMS-22 on 18 February 1947 and assigned the name Kite. She decommissioned that same day and was placed in the Pacific Reserve Fleet.

Kite recommissioned 9 May 1949, Lt. (j.g.) Nicholas Grkovic in command. After repairs in San Diego and Long Beach, she sailed for Pearl Harbor 25 July and cleared Hawaii 26 September for operations in the Western Pacific out of Japan. Soon after Communist aggressors invaded South Korea, Kite sailed 13 July 1950 for Pusan to aid in the effort to contain the Communist drive. Operating in the Pusan area through most of the summer, Kite sailed 12 September to clear waters approaching Inchon. The American amphibious assault which followed there was among the most successful operations of the war and began a great Allied land offensive. During October, as the drive into North Korea gathered momentum, the minesweeper arrived Wonsan to open the mined harbor to Allied supply ships and then retired to Yokosuka for repairs.

Kite returned to the conflict zone 5 January 1951, and for the rest of the conflict she continued mine clearing operations along the Korean coast. Her services allowed Allied supply and fire support ships to complete their missions through heavily mined waters. After the Korean truce 27 June 1953, Kite remained in the Far East continuing minesweeping operations out of Korea and Japan.

Kite was reclassified MSC(O)-22 on 7 February 1955. She was transferred to the South Korean Navy 6 January 1956 and renamed Kim Po (MSC(O)-520). Fate unknown.

Kite received 2 battle stars for World War II service and 10 stars for Korean service.

[thatdewd]

Mornin' all!

[Johnny Gage]

Air Power
MIRAGE F1

Within a year of the Mirage III entering service with the French air force, Dassault-Breguet was developing a successor. The Mirage F1 has 40 per cent more internal fuel than the Mirage III and a better wing design that improves maneuverability and enables it to take off from shorter runways.

Following on the Mirage F-2, which was a revival of the classic arrow-wing design with stabilizers, the Mirage F-1 is a defense and air superiority single-seater plane. This revival was made possible by technological advances which permit manufacture of ultra-thin but robust wings, enabling at supersonic speeds flight performance equivalent to that of delta wings. The integrity of the fuselage structure allows the aircraft to carry a maximum amount of fuel.

The wings are high-mounted, swept-back, and tapered. Missiles are usually mounted at the wing tips. There is one turbojet engine in the body. There are semicircular air intakes alongside the body forward of the wing roots. There is a single exhaust. The fuselage is long, slender, pointed nose and a blunt tail. There are two small belly fins under the tail section and a bubble canopy. The tail is swept-back and tapered fin with a blunt tip. The flats are mid-mounted on the fuselage, swept-back, and tapered with blunt tips.

The Mirage F-1 prototype made its maiden flight with René Bigand at the controls, 23rd December 1966, at Melun-Villaroche (the Seine-et-Marne region of France).

The French air force ordered the Mirage Fl for its interceptor squadrons, and the first F1s entered service in 1973. The Fl proved a very popular export, with over 500 of them sold abroad in the first 10 years of production. More than 700 Mirage F-1's have been sold to some 11 countries. The Dassault Mirage F-1C was the standard French fighter before Mirage 2000 entered service in the air force in 1984. The Mirage Fl has seen combat in the Persian Gulf, where Iraqi Mirage F1s played an important role in the attacks on tankers during the late 1980s. There are several versions now operational - all-weather interceptors, fighter-bombers and dedicated reconnaissance aircraft.

Specifications:
Country of Origin: France
Builder team: Dassault Aviation, SNECMA, Thomson-CSF
Role:
Mirage F1 CT - Close Air Support (CAS) / attack / fighter
Mirage F1 CR - Tactical reconnaissance / fighter
First flight: November 1981 / 1992 for the new weapons system (F1 CT version)
In-service in French Air Force: 1983
Crew: one / trainer--two
Power plant: SNECMA Atar 9K50 jet engine / 4.7 t and 6.8 t with afterburner

Dimensions:
Length: 49 ft (14.94 m) 15.33 m
Span: 27 ft, 7 in (8.4 m)
Height: 4.50 m
Weights: 8.1 t empty / 15.2 t maximum at takeoff

Performance :
Ceiling: 52,000 ft [20,000 meters ?]
Maximum speed: Mach 2.2
Cruise range: 1160 nm
In-Flight Refueling: Yes
Internal Fuel: 3435 kg
Fuel capacity: 4,100 l internal / 6,400 l maximal / In-flight refuelling
Payload: 6300 kg
Sensors: Cyrano IVM radar (-200 has IWMR), RWR
Drop Tanks:
1160 L drop tank with 927kg of fuel for 157nm of range
2300 l drop tank with 1837kg of fuel for 310nm of range

Armaments:
2 30mm DEFA 553 cannon
2 Matra Magic R550
free fall and parachute drag bombs

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All photos Copyright of Global Security.Org

[Soaring Feather]

Good Morning everyone!

[Prof Engineer]

That's a mighty fine little ship.

[w_over_w]

Morning Glory tmprincesa, Snip and Sam~

One of the most interesting battles that would later lead to one of the bloodiest wars. Great read.

[Valin]

Looks like someone was remiss in their painting duties.

[Valin]

John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave,
John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave,
John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave,
His soul is marching on.
CHORUS:
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His soul is marching on.

He's gone to be a soldier in the army of the Lord,
He's gone to be a soldier in the army of the Lord,
He's gone to be a soldier in the army of the Lord,
His soul is marching on!

John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back,
John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back,
John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back,
His soul is marching on!

His pet lambs will meet him on the way,
His pet lambs will meet him on the way,
His pet lambs will meet him on the way,
They go marching on!

They will hang Jeff Davis to a sour apple tree,
They will hang Jeff Davis to a sour apple tree,
They will hang Jeff Davis to a sour apple tree,
As they march along!

Now, three rousing cheers for the Union,
Now, three rousing cheers for the Union,
Now, three rousing cheers for the Union,
As we are marching on!


And his spirt is very much alive today...for better or worse.

[SAMWolf]

Good morning E.G.C. Weather is beautiful this morning down here.

[SAMWolf]

1915 The U.S. military places Haiti under martial law to quell a rebellion in its capital Port-au-Prince. Boy I'm so glad we settled the Haitian problem once and for all. < /sarcasm>

[SAMWolf]

Thanks aomagrat. I can't imagine sailing all over the Pacific in a ship taht small.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks Johnny! Like the joke says:

What do you call a french combat plane?

A mirage.