The FReeper Foxhole Profiles Paul Revere - September 20th, 2003

see educational references ^

[snippy_about_it]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

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


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Paul Revere



December 13, 1774

First he rode to Portsmouth

Months before his horseback ride into American history (April 18, 1775) made legendary by poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Paul Revere was on the icy Boston Post Road to warn the citizens of New Hampshire of a potential British troop landing. Had the British been more aggressive and the weather less ferocious, Revere's "Portsmouth Alarm" may well have signaled an earlier start to the American Revolution. As it turned out, the resulting raid on Fort William and Mary by the seacoast area militia is still considered by many as the first strike of the battle for independence.



Paul Revere and his watchful "mechanics" were well known to the British who kept an eye, in turn, on them as they patrolled Boston streets alert to signs of English military movements. Revolution, pungent as wood smoke, was in the winter air. Revere had learned early in December that a new English Order in Council prohibited import of arms and ammunition into any part of North America. Portsmouth, an imperial port, had a large store of ammunition at the poorly defended Fort William and Mary on New Castle Island. The order also required that the munitions currently in the Colonies should be immediately protected.



With just a half dozen soldiers defending the armory at William and Mary, and with word of heavily manned British ships on their way from England, it was a natural leap of logic to assume they were heading toward New Hampshire. Among them was the ship of the line HMS Somerset with a large crew of British Marines. Nearing the Portsmouth latitudes, the Somerset met an almost insurmountable winter storm.



Portsmouth Alarm

On December 13, Revere started toward Portsmouth in the same harsh weather. A combination of deep snow and slushy thaw had suddenly frozen into sharp icy furrows on the crude roadway. Revere's 40 mile ride up the North Shore, across the Merrimack River to Hampton Falls and to Portsmouth was made more difficult by a biting west wind.



Revere arrived the same afternoon and met immediately with the local Whigs at the waterfront home of merchant Samuel Cutts. The Portsmouth Council of Correspondence learned from Revere that two regiments of British soldiers were coming by sea to protect the stockpiled ammunition at Fort William and Mary. In fact, they were not.



The troops were assigned to more pressing duties with British General Gage in Massachusetts. But Revere and the Portsmouth leaders feared the worst. New Hampshire's British Royal Governor John Wentworth had already dismissed meetings of the local Assembly. He had railed against the "infectious & pestilential disorders" of firebrands like Revere. Would British soldiers be billeted in the Seacoast? Would the munitions blockade snuff out plans for the upcoming Contiental Congress? The men of Portsmouth decided to act quickly.



Meanwhile, Loyalists in town immediately told Gov. Wentworth that the notorious Mr. Revere was holding a secret Whig meting in town. Wentworth warned the half dozen soldiers at the fort and sent a courier immediately to Massachusetts requesting emergency British support from Generals Graves and Gage.


Wentworth


Graves ordered the sloop HMS Canceaux toward Portsmouth, but it arrived too late. A day after Revere's alarm, 200-400 Portsmouth area men had stormed the garrison, hauled down the British flag and disappeared into the falling snow with 100 barrels of stolen gunpowder. The next day, roused by word of Revere's message, a thousand men assembled in Portsmouth and returned to the fort to remove muskets and cannons. These munitions would soon be dispersed throughout the seacoast and find their way to a crucial battle at Bunker Hill, where NH men would again play a key role.



The Final Straw

Paul Revere was safely back in Boston before the HMS Canceaux arrived at the mouth of the Piscataqua River. Adding insult to injury, a local Yankee pilot guided the warship into shallow water where it was stranded for days When the rerouted HMS Scarborough did at last arrived on December 19, there was nothing to do but stand by the pilfered garrison as a warning against more aggression to the King's property.



But the handwriting was on the wall for the British rule in Portsmouth. Gov. Wentworth complained to his British patrons that the Massachusetts influence of men like Paul Revere and Sam Adams had turned his quiet New Hampshire townsmen into a violent mob. Yet, taking the pulse of the times, Wentworth wrote sadly, "no jail would hold them long, and no jury would find them guilty."



HMS Scarborough ended its military vigil over Portsmouth Harbor on August 23, 1775, shortly after Bunker Hill and the battles at Lexington and Concord. Aboard the departing British warship was the last British Royal Governor, his possessions and his family. His Excellency John Wentworth, born in Portsmouth, educated at Harvard. had been driven from town by his own subjects. His fear of dangerous men like Paul Revere, in the end, was well deserved.

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The primary goal of the British regulars was to aprehend the leaders of the opposition, Sam Adams and John Hancock. There secondary goal was, to disarm the populace along the way.

John Hancock

Revere confronted 2 British regulars manning a road block as he headed north across Charlestown Neck. As he turned around, the regulars gave chase and he eluded them. He then continued on to Lexington, to the home of Jonas Clarke where Sam Adams and John Hancock were staying. There, his primary mission was fulfilled when he notified Adams and Hancock that "The Regulars are coming out!" (he never exclaimed, "The British are coming". This would have made no sense at the time since they considered themselves British).


Sam Adams

Revere and Dawes then headed for Concord and came across Doctor Prescott who then joined them. They decided to alarm every house along the way.

Just outside of the town of Lincoln, they were confronted by 4 Regulars at another road block. They tried unsuccessfully to run their horses through them. Prescott, who was familiar with the terrain, jumped a stone wall and escaped. Revere and Dawes tried to escape and shortly into the chase they were confronted by 6 more regulars on horseback. Revere was surrounded and taken prisoner. Dawes got away as they were taking Revere into custody.


William Dawes

The British officers began to interrogate Revere, whereupon Revere astonished his captors by telling them more than they even knew about their own mission. (HA!) He also told them that he had been warning the countryside of the British plan and that their lives were at risk if they remained in the vicinity of Lexington because there would soon be 500 men there ready to fight. Revere, of course, was bluffing.

The Regulars had Revere remount his horse and they headed toward Lexington Green, when suddenly, they heard a gunshot! Revere told the British officer that the shot was a signal "to alarm the country!". Now the British troops were getting very nervous (hehe).



A few minutes later, they were all startled to hear the heavy crash of an entire volley of musketry from the direction of Lexington's meeting house and then the Lexington town bell began clanging rapidly! Jonathan Loring, a Lexington resident captured earlier, turned to his captors and shouted "The bell's a' ringing! The town's alarmed, and you're all dead men!"

The British officers then talked urgently among themselves and decided to release their captives so as they would not slow their retreat.

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[snippy_about_it]

Revere's Early Life

Born in Boston's North End in December, 1734, Paul Revere was the son of Apollos Rivoire, a French Huguenot (Protestant) immigrant, and Deborah Hichborn, daughter of a local artisan family. Rivoire, who changed his name to Paul Revere some time after immigrating, was a goldsmith and eventually the head of a large household. Paul Revere was the second of at least 9, possibly as many as 12 children and the eldest surviving son.

Paul was educated at the North Writing School and learned the art of gold and silversmithing from his father. When Paul was nineteen (and nearly finished with his apprenticeship) his father died, leaving Paul as the family's main source of income. Two years later, in 1756, Revere volunteered to fight the French at Lake George, New York, where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the colonial artillery.

In August, 1757, Revere married Sarah Orne. Together, they had eight children. Soon after Sarah's death in 1773, Revere married Rachel Walker with whom he had eight children.

Revere Silversmith / Craftsman

Revere's primary vocation, a trade he learned from his father, was that of goldsmith/silversmith, meaning he worked in both gold and silver. His silvershop was the cornerstone of his professional life for more than 40 years. As the master of his silversmith shop, Revere was responsible for both the workmanship and the quality of the metal alloy used. He employed numerous apprentices and journeymen to produce pieces ranging from simple spoons to magnificent full tea sets. His work, highly praised during his lifetime, is regarded as one of the outstanding achievements in American decorative arts.



Revere also supplemented his income with other work. During the economic depression before the Revolution, Revere began his work as a copper plate engraver. He produced illustrations for books and magazines, business cards, political cartoons, bookplates, a song book and bills of fare for taverns. He also advertised as a dentist from 1768 to 1775. He not only cleaned teeth, but also wired in false teeth carved from walrus ivory or animal teeth. Contrary to popular myth, he did not make George Washington's false teeth. Fabricating a full set of dentures was beyond his ability.

Political Activities / Revolutionary War

Revere's political involvement arose through his connections with members of local organizations and his business patrons. As a member of the Masonic Lodge of St. Andrew, he was friendly with activists like James Otis and Dr. Joseph Warren. In the year before the Revolution, Revere gathered intelligence information by "watching the Movements of British Soldiers," as he wrote in an account of his ride. He was a courier for the Boston Committee of Correspondence and the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, riding express to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. He also spread the word of the Boston Tea Party to New York and Philadelphia.

At 10 pm on the night of April 18, 1775, Revere received instructions from Dr. Joseph Warren to ride to Lexington to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams of the British approach. The war erupted and Revere went on to serve as lieutenant colonel in the Massachusetts State Train of Artillery and commander of Castle Island in Boston Harbor. Revere and his troops saw little action at this post, but they did participate in minor expeditions to Newport, Rhode Island and Worcester, Mass. Revere's rather undistinguished military career ended with the failed Penobscot expedition.

Paul Revere Industrialist - Post War Businesses

Revere expanded his business interests in the years following the Revolution. He imported goods from England and ran a small hardware store until 1789. By 1788 he had opened a foundry which supplied bolts, spikes and nails for North End shipyards (including brass fittings for the U.S.S. Constitution), produced cannons and, after 1792, cast bells. One of his largest bells still rings in Boston's Kings Chapel.

Concerned that the United States had to import sheet copper from England, Revere opened the first copper rolling mill in North America in 1801. He provided copper sheeting for the hull of the U.S.S. Constitution and the dome of the new Massachusetts State House in 1803. Revere Copper and Brass, Inc., the descendent of Revere's rolling mill is best known for "Revereware" copper-bottomed pots and pans. Revereware is now, however, manufactured by another company.

Revere's community and social involvements were extensive. He was a Freemason from 1760 to 1809 and held several offices in St. Andrew's and Rising States Lodges as well as the Massachusetts Grand Lodge. A member of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association, Revere also served as the association's first president. Founded in 1794, the group was an organization of artisans, and small businessmen who sought to improve the conditions under which their peers worked and aided members in "distressed" circumstances.

Last Years

In 1811, at the age of 76, Paul Revere retired and left his well-established copper business in the hand of his sons and grandsons. Revere seems to have remained healthy in his final years, despite the personal sorrow caused by the deaths of his wife Rachel and son Paul in 1813. Revere died of natural causes on May 10, 1818 at the age of 83, leaving five children, several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The son of an immigrant artisan, not born to wealth or inheritance, Revere died a modestly well-to-do businessman and a popular local figure of some note. An obituary in the Boston Intelligence commented, "seldom has the tomb closed upon a life so honorable and useful." Paul Revere is buried in Boston's Granary Burying Ground.

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Educational and further reading sources:
www.seacoastnh.com
www.city-net.com
Paul Revere's Ride by David Hacket Fischer, Oxford University Press, 1994.

[snippy_about_it]

IN HIS OWN WORDS

I, PAUL REVERE, of Boston, in the colony of the Massachusetts Bay in New England; of lawful age, do testify and say; that I was sent for by Dr. Joseph Warren, of said Boston, on the evening of the 18th of April, about 10 o'clock; when he desired me, ''to go to Lexington, and inform Mr. Samuel Adams, and the Hon. John Hancock Esq. that there was a number of soldiers, composed of light troops, and grenadiers, marching to the bottom of the common, where there was a number of boats to receive them; it was supposed that they were going to Lexington, by the way of Cambridge River, to take them, or go to Concord, to destroy the colony stores.''

I proceeded immediately, and was put across Charles River and landed near Charlestown Battery; went in town, and there got a horse. While in Charlestown, I was informed by Richard Devens Esq. that he met that evening, after sunset, nine officers of the ministerial army, mounted on good horses, and armed, going towards Concord.


Quote by Dr. Joseph Warren:
"These fellows say we won't fight; by Heavens! I hope I shall die up to my knees in blood."

I set off, it was then about 11 o'clock, the moon shone bright. I had got almost over Charlestown Common, towards Cambridge, when I saw two officers on horse-back, standing under the shade of a tree, in a narrow part of the road. I was near enough to see their holsters and cockades. One of them started his horse towards me, the other up the road, as I supposed, to head me, should I escape the first. I turned my horse short about, and rode upon a full gallop for Mistick Road. He followed me about 300 yards, and finding he could not catch me, returned. I proceeded to Lexington, through Mistick, and alarmed Mr. Adams and Col. Hancock.

After I had been there about half an hour Mr. Daws arrived, who came from Boston, over the Neck.

We set off for Concord, and were overtaken by a young gentleman named Prescot, who belonged to Concord, and was going home. When we had got about half way from Lexington to Concord, the other two stopped at a house to awake the men, I kept along.

When I had got about 200 yards ahead of them, I saw two officers as before. I called to my company to come up, saying here was two of them, (for I had told them what Mr. Devens told me, and of my being stopped). In an instant I saw four of them, who rode up to me with their pistols in their bands, said ''G---d d---n you, stop. If you go an inch further, you are a dead man.''

Immediately Mr. Prescot came up. We attempted to get through them, but they kept before us, and swore if we did not turn in to that pasture, they would blow our brains out, (they had placed themselves opposite to a pair of bars, and had taken the bars down). They forced us in. When we had got in, Mr. Prescot said ''Put on!'' He took to the left, I to the right towards a wood at the bottom of the pasture, intending, when I gained that, to jump my horse and run afoot.

Just as I reached it, out started six officers, seized my bridle, put their pistols to my breast, ordered me to dismount, which I did. One of them, who appeared to have the command there, and much of a gentleman, asked me where I came from; I told him. He asked what time I left . I told him, he seemed surprised, said ''Sir, may I crave your name?'' I answered ''My name is Revere. ''What'' said he, ''Paul Revere''? I answered ''Yes.''



The others abused much; but he told me not to be afraid, no one should hurt me. I told him they would miss their aim. He said they should not, they were only waiting for some deserters they expected down the road. I told him I knew better, I knew what they were after; that I had alarmed the country all the way up, that their boats were caught aground, and I should have 500 men there soon. One of them said they had 1500 coming; he seemed surprised and rode off into the road, and informed them who took me, they came down immediately on a full gallop.

One of them (whom I since learned was Major Mitchel of the 5th Reg.) clapped his pistol to my head, and said he was going to ask me some questions, and if I did not tell the truth, he would blow my brains out. I told him I esteemed myself a man of truth, that he had stopped me on the highway, and made me a prisoner, I knew not by what right; I would tell him the truth; I was not afraid. He then asked me the same questions that the other did, and many more, but was more particular; I gave him much the same answers. He then ordered me to mount my horse, they first searched me for pistols.

When I was mounted, the Major took the reins out of my hand, and said ''By G---d Sir, you are not to ride with reins I assure you''; and gave them to an officer on my right, to lead me. He then ordered 4 men out of the bushes, and to mount their horses; they were country men which they had stopped who were going home; then ordered us to march. He said to me, ''We are now going towards your friends, and if you attempt to run, or we are insulted, we will blow your brains out.''

When we had got into the road they formed a circle, and ordered the prisoners in the center, and to lead me in the front. We rode towards Lexington at a quick pace; they very often insulted me calling me rebel, etc., etc. After we had got about a mile, I was given to the sergeant to lead, he was ordered to take out his pistol, (he rode with a hanger,) and if I ran, to execute the major's sentence.

When we got within about half a mile of the Meeting House we heard a gun fired. The Major asked me what it was for, I told him to alarm the country; he ordered the four prisoners to dismount, they did, then one of the officers dismounted and cut the bridles and saddles off the horses, and drove them away, and told the men they might go about their business. I asked the Major to dismiss me, he said he would carry me, let the consequence be what it will. He then ordered us to march.

When we got within sight of the Meeting House, we heard a volley of guns fired, as I supposed at the tavern, as an alarm; the Major ordered us to halt, he asked me how far it was to Cambridge, and many more questions, which I answered. He then asked the sergeant, if his horse was tired, he said yes; he ordered him to take my horse.

I dismounted, and the sergeant mounted my horse; they cut the bridle and saddle of the sergeant's horse, and rode off down the road. I then went to the house were I left Messrs. Adams and Hancock, and told them what had happened; their friends advised them to go out of the way; I went with them, about two miles across road.

After resting myself, I set off with another man to go back to the tavern, to inquire the news; when we got there, we were told the troops were within two miles. We went into the tavern to get a trunk of papers belonging to Col. Hancock. Before we left the house, I saw the ministerial troops from the chamber window.

We made haste, and had to pass through our militia, who were on a green behind the Meeting House, to the number as I supposed, about 50 or 60, I went through them; as I passed I heard the commanding officer speak to his men to this purpose; ''Let the troops pass by, and don't molest them, without they begin first.''

I had to go across road; but had not got half gunshot off, when the ministerial troops appeared in sight, behind the Meeting House. They made a short halt, when one gun was fired. I heard the report, turned my head, and saw the smoke in front of the troops. They immediately gave a great shout, ran a few paces, and then the whole fired. I could first distinguish irregular firing, which I supposed was the advance guard, and then platoons; at this time I could not see our militia, for they were covered from me by a house at the bottom of the street.

s/PAUL REVERE.

[snippy_about_it]

[snippy_about_it]

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[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyone here at the Foxhole. Glad to see everyone made it through Isabell.

[snippy_about_it]

Good Morning EGC.

Fall is just around the corner and it's getting cooler here.

[Valin]

On this Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on September 20:
357 BC- Alexander III the Great, king of Macedonia, emperor
1833 Ernesto Teodoro Moneta Italy, journalist (Nobel Peace Prize 1907)
1842 Lord James Dewar, physician who invented the vacuum flask and cordite, the first smokeless powder.
1878 Upton Sinclair novelist (Jungle)
1885 Ferdinand Lamenthe (Jelly Roll Morton), jazz pianist, composer and singer, one of the first to orchestrate jazz music.
1899 Elliot Nugent director (And so They were Married)
1902 Kermit Maynard Vevey Ind, cowboy actor (Saturday Roundup)
1902 Steve Smith singer (Lawrence Welk Show)
1910 Jacques-Baptise LeBrun France, finn yachtsman (Olympic-gold-1932)
1911 Frank Devol Moundsville WV, orch leader (I'm Dickens He's Fenster)
1917 Arnold "Red" Auerbach NBA coach/GM (Boston Celtics)
1920 Alexander Thereat
1922 Frank Comstock SD Calif, orch leader (Jimmie Rodgers Show)
1924 James Galanos Phila, fashion designer (Coty Hall of Fame-1959)
1927 Clarice Taylor Va, actress (Nurse Bailey-Nurse)
1927 Rachel Roberts Wales, actress (Foul Play, Doctor's Wife)
1928 Dr Joyce Brothers NYC, pop psychiatrist ($64,000 question winner)
1929 Anne Meara Bkln NY comedian/actress (Stiller & Meara, Archie's Place)
1933 Bob Banas NYC, choreographer (Malibu U, Jonathan Winters Show)
1934 Sophia Loren Rome, actress (Desire Under the Elms, Black Orchid)
1936 Dany Carrel Touraine Indo-china, actress (Passionate Summer)
1938 Pia Lindstom entertainment critic (WNBC-TV)
1938 Tom Tresh NY Yankee (1962 AL Rookie of the Year)
1941 Dale Chihuly Tacoma Wash, artist in glass (Louis Tiffany Award 1967)
1941 John A Wismont Jr Calif, watercolor painter (over 50,000)
1950 Debi Morgan Dunn NC, actress (Angie-All My Children, Cry Uncle)
1950 Loredana Berte Milan Italy, 2nd wife of Bjorn Borg
1951 Guy LaFleur Quebec, NHL right wing (Montreal, NY Rangers)
1951 JoAnna Cameron Colo, actress (I Love My Wife, Isis)
1954 Brinke Stevens [Charlene Brinkman] Ca, actr (Slumber Party Massacre)
1954 Silvio Leonard Cuba, 100m sprinter (Olympic-silver-1980)
1957 Fran Drescher NYC, actress (Cadillac Man)
1957 Vladmir Tkachenko USSR, basketball (Olympic-bronze-1980)
1959 Alannah Currie rocker (Thompson Twins-Doctor, Doctor)
1966 Nuno Bettencourt Azores, rock guitarist (Extreme-More Than Words)
1967 Gunnar Nelson rock singer (Nelsons-Love & Affection)
1967 Matthew Nelson rock singer (Nelsons-Love & Affection)

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Deaths which occurred on September 20:
19BC The Roman poet Virgil
1168 Paschal III, [Guido di Crema], Italian anti-Pope, dies
1327 King Edward II of England was murdered under the connivance of the queen.
1586 Anthony Babington, page/conspirator to Mary Stuart, executed at 24
1803 Robert Emmet, Irish nationalist, executed
1863 Jakob Grimm, writer, dies at 78 (Grimms Brothers)
1947 Fiorello La Guardia (Mayor-R-NYC), dies
1957 Jean Sibelius Finnish composer, dies at 91
1959 Olin Howlin actor (Swifty-Circus Boy), dies at 63
1971 James Westerfield actor (Travels of Jaime McPheeters), dies at 59
1973 Jim Croce singer/songwriter (Time In A Bottle, Bad Bad Leroy Brown), dies in a plane crash at 30
1973 Glenn Strange actor (Sam the Bartender-Gunsmoke), dies at 74
1974 Gail A. Cobb, a member of the Metropolitan Police Force of Washington, D.C., became the first female police officer to be killed in the line of duty.

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1965 BLACK ARTHUR N. BETHLEHEM PA.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1965 CURTIS THOMAS J. HOUSTON TX.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1965 FORBY WILLIS E. ONAKA SD.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE IN 98]
1965 HAWKINS EDGAR LEE LAMESA TX.
1965 MARTIN DUANE W. DENVER CO.
[REPORTED KILLED BY NATIVES]
1965 ROBINSON WILLIAM A. ROBERSONVILLE NC.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1965 SMITH PHILIP E. ROODHOUSE IL.
[03/15/73 RELEASED BY CHINA, ALIVE IN 98]
1966 BLOOM RICHARD MCAULIFFE SAN FRANCISCO CA.
1972 LESTER RODERICK B. MORTON WA.

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

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On this day...
480 BC Themistocles and his Greek fleet win one of history's first decisive naval victories over Xerxes' Persian force off Salamis.
0451 General Aetius defeats Attila the Hun at Chalons-sur-Marne
622 Mohammad's Hegira
1519 Magellan starts 1st successful circumnavigation of the world
1561 Queen Elizabeth of England signs a treaty at Hamptan Court with French Huguenot leader Louis de Bourbon, the Prince of Conde. The English will occupy Le Harve in return for aiding Bourbon against the Catholics of France.
1565 Spaniards capture Fort Caroline Fla & massacre the French
1664 Maryland enacts 1st anti-amaglmation law to prevent widespread intermarriage of English women & black men
1777 - Paoli, PA massacre of sleeping Continental troops by British Dragoons
1792 French defeat Prussians at Valmy
1784 Packet and Daily, the first daily publication in America, appears on the streets.
1797 US frigate Constitution (Old Ironsides) launched in Boston
1830 1st National Black convention meets (Phila)
1850 Slave trade abolished in DC, but slavery allowed to continue
1854 British & French defeat Russians at Alma, in the Crimea
1859 Patent granted on the electric range
1860 1st British royalty to visit US, Prince of Wales (King Edward VII)
1863 Civil War Battle of Chickamauga, near Chattanooga, Tenn, ends
1873 Panic sweeps NY Stock Exchange (railroad bond default/bank failure)
1877 Chase National Bank opens in NYC (later merges into Chase Manhattan)
1879 US Grant comes to SF for elaborate extended visit
1881 Chester A Arthur sworn in as president
1884 6.2 mile Arlberg railroad tunnel completed in Austria
1884 Equal Rights Party nominates female candidates for Pres & VP
1902 Chic White Sox Jim Callahan no-hits Detroit Tigers, 3-0
1907 Pitts Nick Maddox no-hits Bkln Dodgers, 2-1
1908 Chic White Sox Frank Smith 2nd no-hitter, beats Phila 1-0
1911 Yanks set team record 12 errors in a double header
1933 Pittsburgh Steelers (as Pirates) play 1st NFL game, lose 23-2
1942 Gunther Hagg becomes world champ of all records from 1500m to 5000m
1945 German rocket engineers begin work in US
1946 Churchill argues for a "US of Europe"
1948 Mexican Baseball league disbanded
1949 Tennis player Pancho Gonzales turns professional
1951 Swiss males votes against female suffrage
1951 1st North Pole jet crossing
1951 Ford Frick elected commissioner of baseball
1954 1st FORTRAN computer program run
1954 1st National People's Congress adopts Chinese constitution
1954 Roger Bannister awarded Britain's Silver Pears Trophy
1958 Baltimore Oriole knuckler Hoyt Wilhelm no-hits NY Yankees 1-0
1958 Martin Luther King Jr stabbed in chest by a deranged black woman in NYC
1960 UN General Assembly admit 13 African countries & Cyprus (96 nations)
1961 After 84 1/3 innings Bill Fischer gives up a base on balls
1961 Roger Maris hits home run # 59 & barely misses # 60 in game 154 of the season. Yanks clinch pennant #26
1962 James Meredith is blocked from entering Miss U as its 1st black
1964 Paramount theater (NYC) presented the Beatles & Steve & Eydie
1966 US Surveyor B launched toward Moon; crashed Sept 23
1967 Hurricane Beulah hits Texas-Mexican border, kills 38
1968 Mickey Mantle hits final career homer # 536
1969 Pitts Pirate Bob Moose no-hits NY Giants, 4-0
1970 Luna 16 lands on Moon's Mare Fecunditatis, drills core sample
1972 Police find cannabis growing on Paul & Linda McCartney's farm
1973 Billy Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in battle-of-sexes tennis match
1973 Willie Mays announces retirement at end of 1973 season
1975 David Bowie's "Fame," single goes #1 for 2 weeks
1975 Gary Sentman draws a record 176 lb longbow to a maximum 28¬" draw
1976 Playboy releases Jimmy Carter's interview that he lusts for women
1976 Sid Berstein offers $230 million charity concert for Beatle reunion
1977 Voyager 2 launched for fly-by of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
1979 Bloodless coup in Central African Rep overthrows Emperor Bokassa I
1979 NASA launches HEAO
1980 Plaque dedicated in Thurman Munson's memory at Yankee Stadium
1980 Spectacular Bid runs in Belmont alone as 3 horses drop out
1981 Joe Danelo kicks then NY Giant record 55 yard field goal
1982 NFL players begin a 57 day strike
1983 3,112 turn out to see the Pirates play the NY Mets at Shea Stadium
1984 Suicide car bomb attacks US Embassy annex in Beirut
1985 Curtis Strong is convicted for selling cocaine to pro baseball players
1985 Walt Disney World's 200-millionth guest
1986 Wichita State Shockers blow a 35-3 lead; lose 36-35 to Morehead State
1987 Alain Prost wins record 28th Formula one auto race
1987 Walter Payton scores NFL record 107th rushing touchdown
1990 Both Germanys ratify reunification
1990 Saddam Hussein demands US networks broadcast his message
1991 On Capitol Hill, Senate hearings on the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court concluded.
1992 French voters narrowly approved the Maastricht Treaty on European unity.
2000 Independent Counsel Robert Ray announced the end of the Whitewater investigation, saying there was insufficient evidence to warrant charges against President Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
2001 America demanded that Afghanistan hand over Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Otherwise, he said, the Taliban wouild share his fate.
2001 Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania was named by President Bush to head the new Office of Homeland Security.

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

Laos : Thanksgiving
UN observance : Intl Day of Peace (Tuesday)
Birthday of Quetzacoatl (Incan holiday).
Pleasure Your Mate Month
Self Improvement Month

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Religious Observances
Ang, RC : Ember Day
RC : Commemoration of St Eustace & his companions/martyrs
RC : Mem of SS Andrew Kim, Paul Chong & companions, Korean martyrs
Ang : St John Coleridge Patteson, Bishop of Melanesia/companions

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Religious History
1378 The Great Schism in the Catholic Church began. It was touched off when Gregory XI died, shortly after returning the papal seat from Avignon, in France, to Rome. Continuing for nearly 40 years (until 1417), the Schism at one point produced three concurrent popes!
1883 Birth of Albrecht Alt, German Lutheran Old Testament scholar. "Biblia Hebraica" (13th ed., 1962), which Alt edited with Rudolph Kittel, became a standard critical Hebrew text of the Old Testament among students of the Bible for years.
1932 Four branches of Methodism in England united to form the Methodist Church of Great Britain and Ireland. These were the Wesleyan Methodists (founded 1784), the Primitive Methodists (1811), the United Methodist Free Churches (1857) and the United Methodists (1907).
1947 English apologist C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter: 'Those who suffer the same things from the same people for the same Person can scarcely not love each other.'
1948 American missionary Jim Elliot -- eight years before his martyrdom at the hands of the Auca Indians of Ecuador -- penned in his journal: 'I am Thine at terrible cost to Thyself. Now Thou must become mine -- as Thou didst not attend to the price, neither would I.'

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

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Thought for the day :
"Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense....dancing."

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You might be Italian if...You have ever been in a fight defending Sly Stallone's thespian greatness.

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Murphys Law of the day...(Andrews's Canoeing Postulate)
No matter which direction you start it's always against the wind coming back.

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It's a little known fact that...
The first brand of Wrigley's chewing gum was called "Vassar", after the New England woman's college. Next were "Lotta" and "Sweet Sixteen Orange."

[Valin]

1797 US frigate Constitution (Old Ironsides) launched in Boston


SUPER FRIGATES - AMERICA'S HIGH TECH WEAPONS OF THE 1790's
by Steve McQuillan
The year is 1812 and the United States is at war. Like the war of our recent past, the subject of conversation around the world was American military technology. The focus of attention at that time, however, was on America's forty-four gun "super" frigates. During the first eight months of 1812 these American 44 gun frigates had, in battles fought on the high seas with frigates of the English navy, overcome those English frigates in each of the three ship to ship actions fought between them. To understand the scope of this accomplishment and why it caught even the attention of the Emperor Bonaparte, a brief understanding of naval power in 1812 is required.
The British navy in 1812 was made up of 191 ships of the line, 245 frigates of 50 guns or more and numerous other smaller warships giving it over 860 ships altogether. (Another 56 ships were in the process of construction including three 120 gun ships of the line). The English navy time and again during the preceding twenty years had humbled the navies of France, Spain, Denmark, Turkey, Algeria, Russia and Holland.
In the twenty years preceding 1812 the ships of his majesty's navy had fought in over 200 single ship to ship engagements and lost in but five. The last time an English ship had lost a ship to ship action had been seven years earlier when in 1805 the French Milan had bested the HMS Cleopatra. One consequence of this seemingly unending line of victories was that by 1812 over 170 ships on the English roll were ships captured during combat. (This total included 96 French, 39 Danish and 18 Spanish ships) English naval victories had come to be expected by captains and sailors of not only of the Brtish navy but those of the ships which they fought.
That attitude was rudely shaken in 1812 when the HMS Guerre (38) was destroyed by the USS Constitution (44), the HMS Macedon (49) captured by the USS United States (44) and the HMS Java (44) taken by the USS Constitution.
The navy of the United States in 1812 consisted of some 50 ships. A congressional committee in early 1812 had determined that a fleet of 12 ships of the line and 20 frigates would be large enough to protect the U.S. because of how thinly spread the English fleet was stretched blockading France.
Ships of the line were reserved for the major military and economic powers, however, and something Congress decided the United States could not afford. *see note1
The largest ships in the U.S. fleet in 1812 were the 44 gun frigates, the Constitution, United States and President. Launched between 1798 and 1800 these three ships were built principally to protect U.S. commerce from the Barbary pirates. Because of the threat presented by the Barbary states, the United States' Congress voted in 1794 to build four 44 gun and two 38 gun frigates. (That number was decided on the fact that the Portuguese had adequately blockaded the Barbary states with three ships of the line)
Those six ships were:
CHART 1
Rating Name Built Year Tons Cost
44 United States Philadelphia 1797 1576 $299,336
44 Constitution Boston 1797 1576 $302,718
44 President New York 1800 1576 $220,910
38 Constellation Baltimore 1797 1265 $314,212
38 Congress Portsmouth 1799 1268 $197,246
38* Chesapeake Norfolk 1799 1244 $220,677

* The fourth 44 gun frigate was modified by Josia Fox into the 38 gun Chesapeake.


When construction on the frigates began it had been estimated the 44 gun frigates would cost $100,000 each and require only 18 months to build. Construction costs ran far overbudget (the eventual cost paid for each frigate was more than England spent in the construction of her 74 gun ships of the line) and was much slower than anticipated.
Congressional support for the building program from the very beginning ebbed and flowed with the tide of the dispute with the Barbary pirates. The anti Federalists in Congress seized every favorable turn in the dispute with Algeria as an excuse to delay or cancel the building program altogether.

In 1795 a peace treaty was reached with the Barbary pirates bringing to a halt all construction on these six ships. *see note2 What now saved the U.S. fleet was the dispute with France dubbed the Quasi-War. In 1797, Congress voted to finish the USS United States, Constitution and Constellation in response to repeated attacks by French privateers on U.S. merchantman and deteriorating relations with France. *see note3 Though the 38 gun frigates would distinguish themselves in ship to ship action versus French ships in the Quasi-war and later against ships of the Barbary pirates, the 44 gun frigates would not see ship to ship action until 1812.
Not even then were they fully appreciated for the truly great ships that they were. A generation after they were built these ships could still outsail and outfight anything in their class.

Once the political decision to build the ships was made, the next task was to determine who would build them. The man eventually selected to design the frigates was Joshua Humphreys. Humphreys was a partner in a Philadelphia ship building firm and had established a reputation as one of America's finest shipwrights. Also to play an instrumental role in the design of the American ships was Josia Fox. Secretary of War, Henry Knox had found Fox doing a study of American timber and how it compared with European wood for ship building purposes.
Both Fox and Humphreys would work together well at first but eventually develop such distaste for one another that they would each prepare and submit separate designs. The design eventually selected, though largely Humphreys’ original design, did reflect Fox's influence as well.


Bringing to mind Germany's pocket battleships Graf Spee, Lutzow and Admiral Scheer, it was Humphreys' intent to make his frigates capable of outrunning anything that they couldn't outgun. Even after a meddling Congress inisisted that Knox place strict limits on the size of the ships they were the largest ships which had by then ever been built in America.
Humphreys eventual design provided for an overall length for his three super frigates of 204 feet with a width of 43.5 feet. This design made them approximately 50 feet longer and a few feet wider than most British frigates of the day. Humphreys believed (and was later proved correct) that these dimensions would give his ships greater speed and also provide them with a more stable gun platform for combat.
The greater length and width also allowed Humphreys to break with traditional frigate design by incorporating two separate gun decks. Though it was customary for frigates to have a single deck full of guns and an upper deck armed only with bow and stern long gun chasers, making the ships longer and wider, enough room was provided for a second row of guns over the first.

The frigates of the United States Navy were not only different in design but also in the materials from which they were constructed. Oak was the wood of choice by most navies of the world. Oak was one of the few types of wood found capable of withstanding not only the elements of nature but also the pounding of cannonballs which a ship of war could be expected to encounter. European navies relied principally on white oak for both the frames and the walls of their ships. *see note4
Largely because of the work of Josia Fox the wood chosen by the U.S. to build the frames for its frigates was live oak which he correctly believed would last much longer than white oak. White oak and yellow pine were chosen for the decks. White oak was also selected for the strakes - the horizontal planking running along the sides of the ship. These planks varied in thickness from four inches at the bottom of the ship to seven to ten inches thick along the wales (from the water line to the gun deck).

The construction of each frigate required some 3,000 trees to be cut down. Each had to be cut by hand and each tree cut in such a manner as to insure that useful pieces could be cut out of the wood when it arrived at the mill. This proved an exceedingly difficult task. Not only was the wood so dense as to make the task of cutting a slow and arduous one but an even greater problem was the fact that the live oak grew principally in a few southern swamps where disease took the lives of many of those who were sent to cut.
The project was, in fact, delayed at some length while additional cutters, including Humpreys son, were located and sent south to replace those who had become sick or died.

The ribs or frames of live oak formed the skeleton of each frigate. Humphreys design called for frames as heavy as those as utilized on a ship of the line and spaced at intervals of as little as every 1 1/2 inches. With the frames bolted to the keel by copper bolts (copper bolts and sheathing, incidently, supplied by Paul Revere) and covered by the strakes, the sides of the frigates were almost a solid wall of oak, 15-20 inches thick.

To power these ships Humphreys designed a ship that carried almost as much sail as a ship of the line. Held aloft on a mast of white pine towering 185 feet into the air (and bound with 4 miles of rope) the 44 gun frigates carried approximately 42, 000 square feet of sail. Most critics felt that the ships were over sailed and would be difficult to handle.
It was not until the War of 1812 that the frigates were able to prove their agility. Capable of sailing at 12-14 knots they proved faster than anything in their class.


Those ships which Humphreys ship could not outrun he intended to out gun. Humphreys original design for his super frigates called for them to each carry 44 guns. As it turned out, each eventually carried more and heavier guns than he ever intended. Unfortunately, Congress had seen fit to assign captains for each of the frigates while the ships were being built. These captains knew that their ships were destined to fight and insisted on crowding onto them as much cannon as possible.
The Constitution, for example, had on her 60 long guns at the time that she was launched. It was hardly unusual for ships to carry as few guns as they were rated for and, in fact, during the period from 1812-1815 only two U.S. and two British ships did. This overloading of guns, however, did cause the ships to sail slower than Humphreys had intended but he was unable to convince any of their captains to remove any guns.

Each of the three American "super" frigates were armed with 30 long 24 pound guns. Up to 9 feet 6 inches long, and resting on a wooden carraige with small wooden wheels, each of these guns weighed 5,544 pounds and could shoot a cannonball weighing 24 pounds up to 2,150 yards (maximum distance).
Though able to shoot the same distance the long 18 pound gun which the British used weighed only 4,704 pounds. The English Navy considered that the 24 pounder was too heavy and cumbersome for rapid and repeated use during combat and opted to use the long 18 on almost all of their frigates. The English felt that if they could get off five 18 pound shots for every three 24 pound shots then they would cause more damage faster.
The British were to learn the hard way how wrong this belief was. In the fight between the HMS Macedon and the USS United States, for example, the United States got off 66 shots per gun as compared to 36 of the Macedon. In one of those ironic twists of fate Captain Carden of the HMS Macedon had told Captain Steven Decatur of the USS United States while the two were dining together before the war that the 24 pounders were too heavy and too slow and in any fight between them, which they both hoped would never occur, that the higher rate of English fire would cripple Decatur's ship.

In addition to its 30 long 24 pounders both the USS President and United States carried 20 forty-two pound caronades while the USS Constitution carried 20 thirty-two pound caronades. The caronade was a shorter, lighter gun compared to a long gun of the same weight but threw a much heavier ball for a much shorter distance. Interestingly, though most damage during ship to ship actions would ordinarily come from the caronades as the ships got in close, most navies chose to rate their ships solely on the number of long guns they carried at the time of their launching. Thus the United States was rated a 44 though she usually carried 50 long guns plus 20 forty-two pound caronades.

One significant disadvantage the United States' ships did have in its armament was the inferior quality of the metal in its guns and shot. American foundries were so poor that captains often reported guns blowing up and shots breaking in half or even disintegrating after being fired. Even if the shots did stay intact the shots were continually underweight.
This was offset at least somewhat by two advantages that U.S. gun crews had over their English counterparts. The guns on U.S. ships were equipped with sights while the British had declined the use of them in order to encourage both speed of fire and their use at closer range. The second advantage came out of the use by the United States of a new powder cartridge made out of thin sheets of lead.
Unlike the British who used flannel bags of powder, the U.S. gun crews were not required to swab out their guns after each use to extinguish any embers left in the gun. Obviously this allowed U.S. guns to shoot at a higher rate of fire.

The number and caliber of the guns the U.S. placed on her "super" frigates was the principle excuse given by the English to explain their losses to these ships in 1812. Certainly the super frigates of the U.S. Navy were different than most frigates of the day but the English criticism that the American frigates were nothing more than disguised ships of the line was unfounded.
One only needs to make a brief comparison of these frigates with ships of the line to see that there really was no comparison. Weighing between 2,000-4,000 tons and carrying between 74 and 130 guns, the American frigates were obviously not in size or in the number of guns that they carried, ships of the line.
Neither did the fact that they had two decks nor the fact that they carried 24 pound guns as compared to the English 18 pounders sufficient to warrant the claim by the English that the ships were in reality disguised ships of the line. It was ignored by the English press of the time that there were, in fact, three rated forty-our gun frigates in the English navy (Cornwallis, Endymon and Indefatigable) each of which carried 24 pounder guns.

The life blood of any great sailing ship was her crew. In this category the U.S. frigates were also superior to those of the English navy. While the ships of His Majesty's Navy spent long periods at sea (giving them a great advantage over their French adversaries) sailors of the U.S. fleet normally had just as much maritime experience as their English counterparts. American sailors, however, received better training in the use of their guns than did English sailors.
Use of live ammunition for training was frowned on by English captains whose ships would be required to stay at sea for long extended periods of time far from home and resupply. The U.S. fleet practiced liberally with live ammunition and put this experience to great effect during the war.

The three U.S. super frigates were each designed to be manned by approximately 400 men. Because of the extra guns crowded on after launching they would during the war actually muster between 400 and 490 men. This was a number greater than most frigates in the English Navy but far fewer than the 750-1,000 men that even the smallest ship of the line would carry.
Nor could the number of men on the U.S. ships explain the disparate results in the combats between their frigates in 1812. The following chart indicates the number of men on board each of the frigates during the actions in 1812 and the casualties sustained.


CHART 2
US Ship Crew Casualties Brit.Ship Crew Casualties
Constitution 456 14 Guerre 302 101
UnitedStates 428 12 Macedon 301 104
Constitution 485 58 Java 377 124




The cheapest shot taken by critics of the American successes was that one to the effect that up to half of the crews on each of these American frigates were Englishmen. This assertion by one English author, though without any basis in fact, was generally accepted for decades in England after the war. In truth, American ships were manned by American crews.
The pay for U.S. sailors was better than their English counterparts and at $10 to $17 dollars per month was as much or more than a skilled artisan on shore could earn. Crew quarters were roomier than on English ships and the food generally better.
Remarkably for the time and unique to the United States Navy, sailors could look over their ships before enlisting. Terms of enlistment were for one year duration as opposed to the indefinite duration English sailors signed on (or were impressed) for. Though discipline was stern generally it was not as stern as on English ships of war and desertions from American ships were rare.

American crews would prove to the world in 1812 that they and their ships were as good as any navy in the world. That the American navy in the Persian Gulf proved to be a technological marvel manned by professionals skilled at their craft came to most of the world as no surprise. That the American navy of 1812 was manned and equipped as such came as a shock to the world and announced America's entry onto the stage of world politics.


Note 1: After the Constitution's victory over the Guerre, Congress authorized the construction of three ships of the line and six more frigates. These ships of the line were the Washington (74), the Independence (74) and the Franklin (74). All were completed in 1815 but did not see service during the War of 1812.


Note 2:The inclusion of a clause to that effect in the Naval Act of 1794 had been the only way George Washington had been able to obtain Congressional approval for the building of the ships.


Note 3:The USS President was completed later in 1800.


Note 4: White oak after decades of European warfare was becoming more and more difficult to find. By 1813 Great Britain was, in fact, required to order the construction of six new large frigates to be built of fir. The use of fir had previously been widely criticized because of the fact that fir, when struck by a cannonball, would badly splinter causing as many if not more casualties than the cannonball itself.
One of the ironies of the British construction program in 1813 was the fact that one of the English jokes about the U.S. frigates shared in the years before the War of 1812 was that the U.S. ships were built of fir. After the ship to ship actions of 1812 and a review by the English Navy of the U.S. casualty lists, the English Navy re-evaluated its earlier position regarding the use of fir. That the small number of U.S. casualties had more to do with the fact that the guns of the English frigates only rarely struck the U.S. ships was something which they failed to consider.

[The Mayor]

[hardhead]

Good morning everyone!

New on the G. I. Memories web page!  For all who were stationed at or ported at Subic Bay in the Philippines, the Subic Bay Registry Project is an effort to permanently record the participants in this great adventure that was Subic Bay !  The great thing about this site is that it is built on a database which means that it is searchable. For example, you can type in a name and hit "search" and it will return any records with that name. There are dozens of categories covering all the units at Subic Bay as well as other bases in the Philippines (i.e., Sangley Point, Clark , San Miguel, etc.) where you can post your picture and links to your own websites. This is a great resource for preserving these memories and also finding old shipmates, friends, family members, and others, with an organized, searchable database. You can quickly zero in on your area of interest without going through dozens or hundreds of emails or listing.  You will find the link to this project in the 'Operation Reunion' section of G. I. Memories.

 

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Snippy.

I learned something new today. I never heard of the Portsmouth episode.

[SAMWolf]

The Midnight Ride of William Dawes
Helen F. Moore,
published in Century Magazine, 1896

I am a wandering, bitter shade,
Never of me was a hero made;
Poets have never sung my praise,
Nobody crowned my brow with bays;
And if you ask me the fatal cause,
I answer only, "My name was Dawes"

'TIS all very well for the children to hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere;
But why should my name be quite forgot,
Who rode as boldly and well, God wot?
Why should I ask? The reason is clear --
My name was Dawes and his Revere.

WHEN the lights from the old North Church flashed out,
Paul Revere was waiting about,
But I was already on my way.
The shadows of night fell cold and gray
As I rode, with never a break or a pause;
But what was the use, when my name was Dawes!

HISTORY rings with his silvery name;
Closed to me are the portals of fame.
Had he been Dawes and I Revere,
No one had heard of him, I fear.
No one has heard of me because
He was Revere and I was Dawes.

[SAMWolf]

Good morning E.G.C.

Feels like fall here today. We have an early morning light fog and very cool. Perfect for an early morning "before the rest of the world wakes up " walk.

[SAMWolf]

1797 US frigate Constitution (Old Ironsides) launched in Boston

Lady Luck Was An American
The classic battle between the USS Constitution and the HMS Guerriere on August 19, 1812. The fight that gave the Constitution its name: "Old Ironsides".

[snippy_about_it]

Bood morning hardhead.

Thanks for the updated link to your G.I. Memories page!

[SAMWolf]

That the small number of U.S. casualties had more to do with the fact that the guns of the English frigates only rarely struck the U.S. ships was something which they failed to consider.

LOL! Thanks for the history of America's frigates, Valin.

[snippy_about_it]

2001 Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania was named by President Bush to head the new Office of Homeland Security.

Wow, it doesn't seem like two years ago. Time flies.

[snippy_about_it]

Bood=Good

Not enough coffee yet. ;)

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Mayor. That coffee is just what I need to take the chill out this morning.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Mayor.

Thanks for the coffee, I need it.