Replies

Repeated demands having been made upon Major Anderson, and upon the President, for the relinquishment of Fort Sumter, and these demands having been refused and the government at Washington having concluded to supply and reinforce the fort by force of arms, it was determined to summon Major Anderson to evacuate the fort, for the last time. Accordingly, on April 11th, General Beauregard sent him the following communication:

Headquarters Provisional Army, C. S. A.
Charleston, April 11, 1861.

Sir: The government of the Confederate States has hitherto foreborne from any hostile demonstrations against Fort Sumter, in hope that the government of the United States, with a view to the amicable adjustment of all questions between the two governments, and to avert the calamities of war, would voluntarily evacuate it.

There was reason at one time to believe that such would be the course pursued by the government of the United States, and under that impression my government has refrained from making any demand for the surrender of the fort. But the Confederate States can no longer delay assuming actual possession of a fortification commanding the entrance of one of their harbors and necessary to its defense and security.

I am ordered by the government of the Confederate States to demand the evacuation of Fort Sumter. My aides, Colonel Chestnut and Captain Lee, are authorized to make such demand of you. All proper facilities will be afforded for the removal of yourself and command, together with company arms and property, and all private property, to any post in the United States which you may select. The flag which you have upheld so long and with so much fortitude, under the most trying circumstances, may be saluted by you on taking it down. Colonel Chestnut and Captain Lee will, for a reasonable time, await your answer.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
G. T. BEAUREGARD,
Brigadier-General Commanding.

Major Anderson replied as follows:

Fort Sumter, S.C.,
April 11, 1861.

General: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication demanding the evacuation of this fort, and to say, in reply thereto, that it is a demand with which I regret that my sense of honor, and of my obligations to my government, prevent my compliance. Thanking you for the fair, manly and courteous terms proposed, and for the high compliment paid me,

I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
ROBERT ANDERSON,
Major, First Artillery, Commanding.

Major Anderson, while conversing with the messengers of General Beauregard, having remarked that he would soon be starved into a surrender of the fort, or words to that effect, General Beauregard was induced to address him a second letter, in which he proposed that the major should fix a time at which he would agree to evacuate, and agree also not to use his guns against the Confederate forces unless they fired upon him, and so doing, he, General Beauregard, would abstain from hostilities. To this second letter Major Anderson replied, naming noon on the 15th, provided that no hostile act was committed by the Confederate forces, or any part of them, and provided, further, that he should not, meanwhile, receive from the government at Washington controlling instructions or additional supplies.

The fleet which was to reinforce and supply him was then collecting outside the bar, and General Beauregard at once notified him, at 3:20 a. m. on the morning of the 12th of April, that he would open fire on the fort in one hour from that time. The shell which opened the momentous bombardment of Fort Sumter was fired from a mortar, located at Fort Johnson on James island, at 4:30 on the morning of the 12th.

For over three months the troops stationed on the islands surrounding Fort Sumter had been constantly employed building batteries, mounting guns, and making every preparation for the defense of the harbor, and, if necessary, for an attack on the fort if the government at Washington persisted in its refusal to order its evacuation.

Lt. Col. R. S. Ripley, an able and energetic soldier, commanded the artillery on Sullivan's island, with his headquarters at Fort Moultrie, Brigadier-General Dunovant commanding the island. Under Ripley's direction, six 10-inch mortars and twenty guns bore on Sumter. The guns were 24, 32 and 42 pounders, 8-inch columbiads and one 9-inch Dahlgren. The supports to the batteries were the First regiment of rifles, Colonel Pettigrew; the regiment of infantry, South Carolina regulars, Col. Richard Anderson; the Charleston Light Dragoons, Capt. B. H. Rutledge, and the German Flying Artillery, the latter attached to Col. Pettigrew's command, stationed at the east end of the island. These commands, with Ripley's battalion of South Carolina regular artillery and Capt. Robert Martin's mortar battery on Mount Pleasant, made up the force under General Dunovant.

On Morris island, Gen. James Simons was commanding, with Lieut.-Col. W. G. De Saussure for his artillery chief, and Maj. W. H. C. Whiting for chief of staff. The infantry supports on the island were the regiments of Cols. John Cunningham, Seventeenth South Carolina militia, and Maxey Gregg, Johnson Hagood and J. B. Kershaw, of the South Carolina volunteers. The artillery was in position bearing on Ship channel, and at Cummings point, bearing on Sumter. The fleet making no attempt to come in, the channel batteries took no part in the bombardment of Sumter.

On Cummings point, six 10-inch mortars and six guns were placed. To the command and direction of these guns, Maj. P. F. Stevens was specially assigned. One of the batteries on the point was of unique structure, hitherto unknown in war. Three 8-inch columbiads were put in battery under a roofing of heavy timbers, laid at an angle of forty degrees, and covered with railroad T iron. Portholes were cut and these protected by heavy iron shutters, raised and lowered from the inside of the battery. This battery was devised and built by Col. Clement H. Stevens, of Charleston, afterward a briga-dier-general and mortally wounded in front of Atlanta, July 20, 1864, leading his brigade. "Stevens' iron battery," as it was called, was "the first ironclad fortification ever erected," and initiated the present system of armor-plated vessels. The three mortars in battery at Port Johnson were commanded by Capt. G. S. James. The batteries above referred to, including Fort Moultrie, contained fifteen 10-inch mortars and twenty-six guns of heavy caliber.

For thirty-four hours they assaulted Sumter with an unceasing bombardment, before its gallant defenders consented to give it up, and not then until the condition of the fort made it impossible to continue the defense. Port Moultrie alone fired 2,490 shot and shell. Gen. S. W. Crawford, in his accurate and admirable book, previously quoted, thus describes the condition of Sumter when Anderson agreed to its surrender:

"It was a scene of ruin and destruction. The quarters and barracks were in ruins. The main gates and the planking of the windows on the gorge were gone;the magazines closed and surrounded by smouldering flames and burning ashes; the provisions exhausted; much of the engineering work destroyed; and with only four barrels of powder available. The command had yielded to the inevitable. The effect of the direct shot had been to indent the walls, where the marks could be counted by hundreds, while the shells, well directed, had crushed the quarters, and, in connection with hot shot, setting them on fire, had destroyed the barracks and quarters down to the gun casemates, while the enfilading fire had prevented the service of the barbette guns, some of them comprising the most important battery in the work. The breaching fire from the columbiads and the rifle gun at Cummings point upon the right gorge 'angle, had progressed sensibly and must have eventually succeeded if continued, but as yet no guns had been disabled or injured at that point. The effect of the fire upon the parapet was pronounced. The gorge, the right face and flank as well as the left face, were all taken in reverse, and a destructive fire maintained until the end, while the gun carriages on the barbette of the gorge were destroyed in the fire of the blazing quarters."

The spirit and language of General Beauregard in communicating with Major Anderson, and the replies of the latter, were alike honorable to those distinguished soldiers. The writer, who was on duty on Sullivan's island, as major of Pettigrew's regiment of rifles, recalls vividly the sense of admiration felt for Major Anderson and his faithful little command throughout the attack, and at the surrender of the fort. "While the barracks in Fort Sumter were in a blaze," wrote General Beauregard to the secretary of war at Montgomery, "and the interior of the work appeared untenable from the heat and from the fire of our batteries (at about which period I sent three of my aides to offer assistance), whenever the guns of Fort Sumter would fire upon Moultrie, the men occupying the Cummings point batteries (Palmetto Guard, Captain Cuthbert) at each shot would cheer Anderson for his gallantry, although themselves still firing upon him; and when on the 15th instant he left the harbor on the steamer Isabel, the soldiers of the batteries lined the beach, silent and uncovered, while Anderson and his command passed before them."

Thus closed the memorable and momentous attack upon Fort Sumter by the forces of South Carolina, and thus began the war which lasted until April, 1865, when the Southern Confederacy, as completely ruined and exhausted by fire and sword as Fort Sumter in April, 1861, gave up the hopeless contest and reluctantly accepted the inevitable.

Beauregard Reports The Fall Of Fort Sumter

His Official Communication to Jefferson Davis

[GENERAL BEAUREGARD, who made this official report to President Jefferson Davis, had taken command of the Confederate forces at Charleston, South Carolina, on resigning from the superintendency of West Point, February 20, 1861. His was the distinction of having thus begun the Civil War. Beauregard had graduated at West Point in 1838. He distinguished himself in the Mexican War, and prior to the Civil War had been captain of engineers in fortifying Mobile and New Orleans. There is some discrepancy between Beauregard's statement, in this report, that Major Anderson had refused "to designate the time when he would evacuate Fort Sumter, and to agree meanwhile not to use his guns against us," and Anderson's, pledge to "evacuate Fort Sumter by noon on the 15th instant (April, 1861), and I will not in the meantime open my fires upon your forces, unless compelled to do so by some hostile act..."]

SIR: I have the honor submit the following summary statement of the circumstances of the surrender of Fort Sumter: On the refusal of Major Anderson to engage, in compliance with my demand, to designate the time when he would evacuate Fort Sumter, and to agree meanwhile not to use his guns against us, at 3:20 o'clock in the morning of the 12th instant I gave him formal notice that within one hour my batteries would open on him. In consequence of some circumstance of delay the bombardment was not begun precisely at the appointed moment, but at 4:30 o'clock the signal gun was fired, and within twenty minutes all our batteries were in full play. There was no response from Fort Sumter until about 7 o'clock, when the first shot from the enemy was discharged against our batteries on Cummings Point.

By 8 o'clock the action became general, and throughout the day was maintained by spirit on both sides. Our guns were served with skill and energy. The effect was visible in the impressions made on the walls of Fort Sumter. From our mortar batteries shells were thrown with such precision and rapidity that it soon became impossible for the enemy to employ his gun "en barbette," of which several were dismounted. The engagement was continued without any circumstance of special note until night fall before which time the fire from Sumter had evidently slackened. Operations on our side were sustained through' out the night, provoking, however, only a feeble response.

On the morning of the 13th the action was prosecuted with renewed vigor, and about 7:30 o'clock it was discovered our shells had set fire to the barracks in the fort. Speedily volumes of smoke indicated an extensive conflagration, and apprehending some terrible calamity to the garrison, I immediately dispatched an offer of assistance to Major Anderson which, however, with grateful acknowledgments, he declined. Meanwhile, being informed about 2 o'clock that a white flag was displayed from Sumter, I dispatched two of my aides to Major Anderson with terms of evacuation. In recognition of the gallantry exhibited by the garrison I cheerfully agreed that on surrendering the fort the commanding officer might salute his flag.

By 8 o'clock the terms of evacuation were definitely accepted. Major Anderson having expressed a desire to communicate with the United States vessels lying off the harbor, with a view to arranging for the transportation of his command to some port in the United States, one of his officers, accompanied by Captain Hartstene and three of my aides, was permitted to visit the officer in command of the squadron to make provision for that object. Because of an unavoidable delay the formal transfer of the fort to our possession did not take place until 4 o'clock in the afternoon of the 14th instant. At that hour, the place having been evacuated by the United States garrison, our troops occupied it, and the Confederate flag was hoisted on the ramparts of Sumter with a salute from the various batteries.

The steamer "Isabel" having been placed at the service of Major Anderson, he and his command were transferred to the United States vessels off the harbor...

I remain, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
G. T. BEAUREGARD,
Brigadier-General, Commanding,
Headquarters Provisional Army, C. S. A.,
Charleston, S. C.,
April 16, 1861.

Additional Sources:

www.dointhecharlestontours.com
www.oldworldauctions.com
members.aol.com/confederatesite
www.tulane.edu/~latner
ngeorgia.com/history
www.civilwarartillery.com
www.lib.niu.edu
www.multied.com
www.us-civilwar.com
www.bergen.org/civilwar
earlyamerica.com

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on October 09:
1547 Miguel de Cervantes novelist (Don Quixote)
1757 Charles X reactionary king of France (1824-30); deposed
1782 Lewis Cass (Gov-Mich)
1835 Camille Saint-Sa‰ns Paris France, composer (Ode Sainte C‚cile)
1863 Alexander Siloti Kharkov Russia, pianist/prof (Moscow Cons 1888-91)
1884 Martin Elmer Johnson explorer/photographer
1888 Hank Patterson Alabama, actor (Gunsmoke, Fred Ziffel-Green Acres)
1890 Aimee Semple McPherson Pentecostal evangelist/radio preacher
1899 Bruce Catton civil war historian
1900 Alastair Sims actor (Christmas Carol, Stage Fright)
1903 Walter O'Malley owner (Dodgers)
1904 Wally Brown Malden Mass, actor (Jed Fame-Cimarron City)
1906 L‚opold Senghor poet/president of Senegal (1960-80)
1907 Klaes Karppinen Findland, 4 X 10K relay (Olympic-gold-1936)
1908 Jacques Tati Pecq France, director (Traffic, Playtime, My Uncle)
1908 James E Folsom (Alabama-Gov, 1947-51, 1955-59)
1910 Phil Hanna River Forest Ill, singer (Once Upon a Tune)
1914 Edward Andrews Griffin Ga, actor (Broadside, Harry-Supertrain)
1917 Kusuo Kitamura Japan, 1500m freestyle swimmer (Olympic-gold-1932)
1918 E Howard Hunt Hamburg NY, involved in Watergate break-in
1923 Donald Sinden England, actor (Doctor at Large, Mogambo, Simba)
1924 Robert Rushworth pilot (X-15)
1925 Robert Finch actor (Academy Theater)
1927 Daniele Delorme Paris, actress (Pardon My Affair Too)
1927 Robert Shaw actor (From Russia with Love, Man for All Seasons)
1928 Einojuhani Rautavaara Helsinki Finland, composer (Kaivos)
1930 David Rounds Bronxville NY, actor (Terence-Beacon Hill)
1940 Gordon Humphrey (Sen-R-NH)
1940 Joe Pepitone baseball player (NY Yankee 1st baseman)
1940 John Lennon rocker/Beatle (Imagine)
1944 John Entwistle rocker (The Who-Tommy)
1944 Peter Tosh Jamaica, reggae musician (Mystic Man, Mama Africa)
1945 Jeannie C Riley Texas, singer (Harper Valley PTA, Hee Haw)
1948 Dave Samuels vibraphonist (Spyro Gyra-Morning Dance)
1948 Jackson Browne Germany, rocker (Lawyers in Love)
1949 Shep Messing Israel, soccer goal tender (NY Cosmos)
1950 Gary Frank Spokane Wash, actor (Sons & Daughters, Family)
1951 Richard Chaves actor (Cease Fire, Predator)
1951 Robert Wuhl Union NJ, actor (Bull Durham, Good Morning Vietnam)
1954 Scott Bakula actor (Quantum Leap, Gung Ho)
1955 Linwood Boomer Vancouver, actor (Adam-Little House on the Prairie)
1955 Steve Ovett England, runner (Olympics-800m gold, 1500m bronze-1980)
1959 Michael Par‚ Brooklyn NY, actor (Greatest American Hero, Houston Knights)
1959 Mike Singletary NFL middle linebacker (Chicago Bears)
1961 Arlene Boxhall Zimbabwe, field hockey (Olympic-gold-1980)
1961 Jean Sagal LA Calif, actress (Kate-Double Trouble, Grease 2)
1961 Liz Sagal LA Calif, actress (Allison-Double Trouble, Grease 2)
1967 Carling Bassett-Seguso Canada, tennis player/actress (Spring Fever)
1975 Sean Ono Lennon John's son

Deaths which occurred on October 09:
1253 Grosseteste an English scholar, dies at 78
1562 Gabriel Fallopius Modena Italy, anatomist
1806 Benjamin Banneker astronomer/mathematician, dies at 74
1912 Millie & Christine Siamese twins, die at 61
1934 King Alexander of Yugoslavia, by Georgief, a Croatian terrorist
1958 Pope Pius XII dies, 19 years after elevation to the papacy
1960 Howard Glenn NY Titan, dies of injuries sustain in this day's game
1962 Lulu McConnell comediene (It Pays to be Ignorant), dies at 80
1967 Che Guevara executed in Bolivia
1988 Edward Chodorov playwright/director (Louis Pasteur), dies at 84
1988 Felix Wankel developer of the Wankel rotary engine, dies

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1966 TANNER CHARLES N.---COVINGTON TN.
[03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 TERRY ROSS R.---LAKE JACKSON FL.
[03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE IN 98]
1967 CLEMENTS JAMES A.---QUEEN CITY TX.
[03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV, RIP 27 MARCH 97]
1969 DRIVER DALLAS A.---STEPHENS CITY VA.
1969 GARBETT JIMMY R.---LAKE CITY FL.
1969 MOORE RAYMOND G.---CINCINNATI OH.
1969 SUYDAM JAMES L.---PHILLIPSBURG NJ.
1969 TURNER JAMES H.---COLUMBUS OH.

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

On this day...
28 BC The Temple of Apollo is dedicated on the Palatine Hill in Rome
680 Husain ibn 'Ali, Shi'i religious leader, killed in battle (Kerbala modern day Iraq)
1000 Leif Ericson discovers "Vinland" (possibly New England)
1290 Last of 16,000 English Jews expelled by King Edward I, leaves
1446 Korean Hangual alphabet devised
1635 Religious dissident Roger Williams banished from Mass Bay Colony
1701 Collegiate School of Ct (Yale U), chartered in New Haven
1776 Mission Dolores founded by SF Bay
1779 The Luddite riots being in Manchester, England in reaction to machinery for spinning cotton.
1781 Americans begin shelling the British surrounded at Yorktown.
1812 Victory for Americans on Lake Erie (War of 1812); Lieutenant Jesse Duncan Elliot capture two British brigs, the Detroit and Caledonia.
1820 Guayaquil, Ecuador declares its freedom from Ecuador
1837 Steamboat "Home" sinks off Okracoke NC killing 100
1855 Isaac Singer patents sewing machine motor
1855 Joshua Stoddard of Worcester, Mass patents 1st calliope
1863 Battle of Brady Station, VA (Culpeper Court House, Bristoe Station)
1864 Battle of Tom's Brook -- Confederate cavalry that harassed Sheridan's campaign is wiped by Custer & Merrit's cavalry divisions
1872 Aaron Montgomery starts his mail-order business
1876 1st 2-way telephone conversation, 1st over outdoor wires
1877 American Humane Association organized in Cleveland
1888 Public admitted to Washington Monument
1890 Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "The Red-Headed League"
1903 11" rainfall in 24 hrs (NYC)
1910 Nap Lajoie challenges Ty Cobb batting avg with 8 hits, 6 were bunts as Brown's 3rd baseman Red Corriden played deep, Cobb still won
1915 Woodrow Wilson becomes 1st pres to attend a world series game (World Series #12)
1916 Babe Ruth pitches & wins longest WS game (14 innings) 2-1
1921 Babe Ruth's 1st WS homer; only Sunday game ever pitched by Carl Mays
1928 NY Yankees sweep Cards in 25th World Series, Ruth hits 3 HR in game - NY Yankees become 1st to sweep consecutive World Series
1930 1st transcontinental flight by a woman completed, Laura Ingalls
1934 St Louis Cards beat Detroit Tigers, 4 games to 3 in 31st World Series
1934 King Alexander of Yugoslavia was assassinated by a Croatian terrorist during a state visit to France.
1936 Hoover Dam begins transmitting electricity to LA
1938 Cleveland Browns & Chicago Bears play a penalty free NFL game
1938 NY Yankees sweep Cubs in the 35th World Series, 3rd straight WS win
1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt requests congressional approval for arming U.S. merchant ships.
1944 St Louis Cards beat St Louis Browns, 4 games to 2 in 41st World Series
1946 1st electric blanket manufactured; sold for $39.50
1947 1st telephone conversation between a moving car & a plane
1949 NY Yankees beat Dodgers 4 games to 1 in 46th World Series
1950 U.N. forces, led by the First Cavalry Division, cross the 38th parallel in South Korea and begin attacking northward towards the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
1951 Gil McDougald's world series grand slam helps Yanks beat Giants 13-1 (World Series #48)
1958 NY Yankees beat Braves 4 games to 3 in 55th World Series - NY Yankees appear in 9 & win 7 of last 10 World Series
1960 Cowboy QB Eddie LeBaron throws shortest touchdown pass (2")
1961 NY Yankees beat Cin Reds, 4 games to 1 in 58th World Series
1961 Tanganyika becomes independent within the British Commonwealth
1961 Volcano eruptions on Tristan de Cunha (South Atlantic)
1961 Yank Whitey Ford breaks Ruth record of 29 2/3 consecutive inning
1962 NASA civilian test pilot John B McKay takes X-15 to 39,200 m
1963 Uganda becomes a republic within the British Commonwealth
1965 Beatles' "Yesterday," single goes #1 & stays #1 for 4 weeks
1966 Balt Orioles sweep LA Dodgers, in 63rd World Series
1968 Government seizes oil fields in Peru
1969 Supremes release "Someday We'll Be Together"
1970 Khmer Republic (Cambodia) declares independence
1973 Elvis & Priscilla Presley divorce after 6 years
1973 Warriors-Cavalier game in Cleveland postponed because of wet floors
1974 Wash Caps begin a 37 game road losing streak
1974 Washington Capitals 1st NHL game, losing 6-3 to NY Rangers at MSG
1975 Emperor Hirohito of Japan visits SF
1975 Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov wins Nobel Peace Prize
1976 Yanks 1st AL Championship game, beat Royals 4-1
1977 Soyuz 25 launched to Saluyt 6, but returned after failing to dock
1977 Yanks rally for 3 in 9th & beat Royals 5-3 for pennant #31
1980 1st consumer use of home banking by computer (Knoxville Tn)
1980 Princess Caroline of Monaco divorces Philippe Junot
1983 4 South Korean cabinet ministers assassinated in Rangoon Burma
1984 Kathy Sullivan becomes 1st US woman to walk in space
1986 Gilbert Perreault, Buffalo, became 12th NHLer to score 500 goals
1986 Senate convicted US District Judge Harry E Claiborne making him the 5th federal official to be removed from office through impeachment
1988 Dennis Eckersley, 1st to save all 4 games in a championship series
1989 Penthouse Magazine's hebrew edition hits the newstands
1989 1st NFL game coached by a black man (Art Shell), his LA Raiders beat NY Jets 14-7 on Monday Night Football
1990 Radio stations around the world play "Imagine" honoring John Lennon
1990 Saddam threatens to hit Israel with a new missile

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

Ecuador : Guayaquil's Independence Day (1820)
Hong Kong : Confucius' Birthday
Khmer Republic : Republic Day (1970)
Minnesota : Leif Ericsson Day (c 1000)
Peru : Day of National Dignity (1968)
South Korea : Hangual Day/Korean Alphabet Day (1446)
Tanganyika : independence day (1961)
Uganda : independence day (1962)
Western Samoa : White Sunday (2nd Sunday) (Sunday)
Canada : Thanksgiving Day (Monday)
Florida : Farmers' Day (1915) (Monday)
Hawaii : Discoverer's Day (Monday)
US : Columbus Day (1492) (Monday)
Virgin Is & Puerto Rico : Friendship Day (Monday)
National Customer Service Week (Day 4)
National Depression Screening Day.
National Employ the Handicapped Week (Day 5)
Newspaper Week (Day 5)
Gourmet Adventures Month
National Cosmetology Month
National Cut Out Dissection Month

Religious Observances
Orth : Commem of the Death of St John Leonardi the Divine (9/26 OS)
RC, Ang : Memorial of St Denis, bp, & companions, martyrs (opt)
Shi'te : Husain Day
Ang : Commemoration of Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln
RC : Memorial of St John Leonardi, confessor (opt)
Ang : St. Denys's Day

Religious History
1635 Colonial American Separatist Roger Williams was banished from Massachusetts for preaching that civil government had no right to interfere in religious affairs. (Williams was seeking to establish freedom of worship through the separation of church and state.)
1776 Spanish missionaries dedicated the first mission chapel on the northern California coast at Yerba Buena. (In 1847, the city which grew up around the mission changed its name to San Francisco.)
1842 Episcopal missionary James L. Breck was ordained a priest at Duck Creek, WI. In 1850, this "apostle of the wilderness" moved to Minnesota and in 1858 founded the Seabury Divinity School. It is said that "no priest did more for the Episcopal Church in the West than Breck."
1845 Cofounder of the Oxford Movement in England, churchman John Henry Newman made his celebrated conversion from Anglicanism to Catholicism. From 1845-1862, nearly 250 other English clergy followed Newman into the Roman Catholic faith
1747 Colonial missionary to the New England Indians, David Brainerd died of tuberculosis (brought on by exposure) at age 29. Following his death, the publication of "Brainerd's Journal" by Jonathan Edwards influenced hundreds to become missionaries after him.

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

Thought for the day :
"If you always postpone pleasure you will never have it."

You might be a South Park junkie if...
Kenny appears in your dreams.

Murphys Law of the day...(Rudin's Law)
In a crisis that forces a choice to be made among alternative courses of action, most people will choose the worse one possible.

It's a little know fact that...
A chameleon's tongue is twice the length of its body.

And now for some REAL NEWS.

SPACE ALIENS ARE HERE FOR OUR TOOTHPASTE!
They're Light-Years Ahead of Us in Space Travel - but Not in Dental Hygiene, Say Experts

SPACE aliens are not visiting Earth to plot the conquest of our planet or use their wisdom to guide mankind. They're here for our toothpaste!

That's the controversial theory of a British dentist, Dr. Alan Prestwood, the leading expert in a new field he's dubbed "exo-odontology."

"We are thousands of years behind the extraterrestrials in space travel, but we're way ahead of them in dental hygiene," declares Dr. Prestwood.

Such discrepancies occur in many civilizations, the expert maintains.

"By the eighth century A.D., the Chinese already had gunpowder and rockets, yet for centuries to come they used chopsticks to eat because they hadn't invented the simple fork," the Manchester expert points out.

Dr. Prestwood believes the E.T.s have been stealing our toothpaste and applying "reverse-engineering" to try to create a substance that will be as effective on their own choppers.

"It's taken decades because their physiology is so different," he explains.

The exo-odontologist cites the following evidence in support of his theory:

FACT: Widespread UFO sightings in the U.S. began in the early 1950s -- soon after fluoridation of the water helped eradicate tooth decay.

FACT: Classified photos of alien remains recovered from the famous Roswell, N.M., saucer crash show the E.T.'s teeth are yellow and uneven, with several missing. "The photos also show blackened gums," says Dr. Prestwood, who has seen rare copies of the top secret autopsy report.

FACT: While embarrassing rectal probes grab a lot of media attention, far more UFO abductees report having been subjected to oral exams. "Almost 90 percent say aliens closely studied their teeth," Dr. Prestwood reveals.

FACT: When abductees are returned to Earth, a single item is often missing from their pocketbooks and suitcases: A tube of toothpaste.

FACT: Photos of teeth marks left on the arm of an RAF officer who unsuccessfully tried to capture an E.T. in 1971 show five teeth are missing.

FACT: The prevalence of UFO sightings is 20 times the norm in areas where major toothpaste makers have their manufacturing facilities.

Some fellow UFO investigators criticize Dr. Prestwood's research. One says that according to many descriptions, aliens don't have any teeth at all.

To which Dr. Prestwood replies, "That only serves to prove my point."

Published on: September 30, 2003
http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/features/aliens_story.cfm?instanceid=59376