USO Canteen FReeper Style ....Themeless Thursday .... August 22,2002

Take out a One Dollar bill, and look at it. The One Dollar bill you're looking at first came off the presses in 1957 in its present design. This so-called paper money is in fact a cotton and linen blend, with red and blue minute silk fibers running through it. It is actually material. We've all washed it without it falling apart. A special blend of ink is used, the contents we will never know. It is overprinted with symbols and then it is starched to make it water resistant and pressed to give it that nice crisp look.

If you look on the front of the bill, you will see the United States Treasury Seal. On the top you will see the scales for a balanced budget. In the center you have a carpenter's square, a tool used for an even cut. Underneath is the Key to the United States Treasury. That's all pretty easy to figure out, but what is on the back of that dollar bill is something we should all know.

If you turn the bill over, you will see two circles. Both circles, together, comprise the Great Seal of the United States. The First Continental Congress requested that Benjamin Franklin and a group of men come up with a Seal. It took them four years to accomplish this task and another two years to get it approved.

If you look at the left-hand circle, you will see a Pyramid. Notice the face is lighted, and the western side is dark. This country was just beginning. We had not begun to explore the West or decided what we could do for Western Civilization. The Pyramid is uncapped, again signifying that we were not even close to being finished. Inside the capstone you have the all-seeing eye, an ancient symbol for divinity. It was Franklin's belief that one man couldn't do it alone, but a group of men, with the help of God, could do anything.

"IN GOD WE TRUST" is on this currency. The Latin above the pyramid, ANNUIT COEPTIS, means, "God has favored our undertaking".

The Latin below the pyramid, NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM, means, "a new order has begun." At the base of the pyramid is the Roman numeral for 1776. If you look at the right-hand circle, and check it carefully, you will learn that it is on every National Cemetery in the United States. It is also on the Parade of Flags Walkway at the Bushnell, Florida National Cemetery, and is the centerpiece of most Hero's monuments. Slightly modified, it is the seal of the President of the United States, and it is always visible whenever he speaks; yet very few people know what the symbols mean.

The Bald Eagle was selected as a symbol for victory for two reasons: First, he is not afraid of a storm; he is strong and he is smart enough to soar above it. Secondly, he wears no material crown. We had just broken from the King of England. Also, notice the shield is unsupported. This country may now stand by itself. At the top of that shield you have a white bar signifying congress, a unifying factor. We were coming together as one nation. In the Eagle's beak you will read, "E PLURIBUS UNUM", meaning, "one nation from many people".

Above the Eagle, you have thirteen stars, representing the thirteen original colonies, and any clouds of misunderstanding rolling away. Again, we were coming together as one.

Notice what the Eagle holds in his talons. He holds an olive branch and arrows. This country wants peace, but we will never be afraid to fight to preserve peace. The Eagle always wants to face the olive branch, but in time of war, his gaze turns toward the arrows.

They say that the number 13 is an unlucky number. This is almost a worldwide belief. You will usually never see a room numbered 13, or any hotels or motels with a 13th floor. But think about this: 13 original colonies, 13 signers of the Declaration of Independence, 13 stripes on our flag, 13 steps on the Pyramid, 13 letters in the Latin above, 13 letters in "E Pluribus Unum", 13 stars above the Eagle, 13 bars on that shield, 13 leaves on the olive branch, 13 fruits, and if you look closely, 13 arrows. And, for minorities: the 13th Amendment.

I always ask people, "Why don't you know this?" Your children don't know this, and their history teachers don't know this. Too many veterans have given up too much to ever let the meaning fade. Many veterans remember coming home to an America that didn't care. Too many veterans never came home at all.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS & VETERANS!

Lewis Addison Armistead was born on February 18, 1817 in New Bern, North Carolina to Walker Keith Armistead and Elizabeth Stanly.

Lewis grew up near the mountains of Virginia on the family farm, Ben Lomond, near the town of Upperville, Virginia. He was accepted to West Point on March 21, 1833 but tendered his resignation to the school (for the second time, the first time, because of an illness that left him behind in his studies his first year at West Point and he was certain to fail his annual exam) on January 29, 1836 for the incident of "cracking a mess hall plate over the head of fellow classmate, Jubal Early."

Lewis still was able to serve his country and was appointed to the 6th U.S. Infantry Regiment as a Second Lieutenant in 1839. This was due in part because of the Seminole Indian uprisings in Florida, and largely because of the influence of both his father, General Walker Keith Armistead and also that of Edward Stanly, his uncle who was a Congressman from North Carolina. He served three years in Florida and was transferred to Jefferson Barracks, just south of St. Louis, Missouri in 1842.

Lewis married for the first time in 1844 to Cecilia Lee Love. It was also in this year that Lewis met someone who would be a life-long friend, fellow Army officer Winfield Scott Hancock. To Lewis and Cecilia, a son was born, Walker Keith Armistead, on December 11, 1844 at Saint David's Parish, Alabama. Their second child, a daughter, Flora Lee, was born on June 26, 1846.

Lewis served in the Mexican War, and was breveted to the honorary rank of Captain for his actions in battle. After the Mexican War in 1849, Armistead was assigned to recruiting duty in Kentucky, where he was diagnosed with a severe case of Erysipelas, a degenerative skin disease that destroys tissue. The diseased tissue was removed and he later recovered. This was the first of many misfortunes that would befall the Captain.

In April, 1850, Lewis and Cecilia, lost their little girl, Flora Lee. She is buried at Jefferson Barracks. Later that same year, Cecilia also passed away, on December 12, 1850 from an unknown cause. Also during this period of time, the Armistead family home in Virginia, Ben Lomond, burned, destroying practically everything. Armistead took leave in October of 1852 to go home and help his family.

While home on leave, he married for the second time. His bride was Cornelia L.T. Jamesson, the widow of a naval midshipman who had died in 1845. Lewis and Cornelia were married in Christ Church in Alexandria, Va., on March 17, 1853. They both went west when Armistead returned to duty shortly thereafter.

The newlyweds apparently had, and lost a child. Also buried at Jefferson Barracks is another grave, that of an infant, Lewis B. Armistead, who died on Dec 6, 1854. The infant is buried next to Flora Lee Armistead. Tragedy again struck Armistead, the next year, his second wife, Cornelia, passed away during a cholera epidemic, on August 2, 1855 at Fort Riley, Kansas.

Tragedy seems to have followed Lewis; he had lost two children, his two wives, his family's home, and suffered a severe illness, all in a period of about 6 years.

But more turmoil was not far away. There was soon the hint of secession by the Southern States, bringing with it the threat of War. With the attack on Fort Sumter, South Carolina in April of 1861, many Southern men were faced with the difficult decision of remaining with the Army they had served loyally for most of their lives, or leaving to fight for their home states. Most would resign their commissions, for to fight against their respective states would mean fighting their own families; this was something that many could and would not do. So, like many of his Southern comrades, Lewis A. Armistead resigned from the U.S. Army on May 26, 1861 to serve his beloved Virginia.

It was shortly after this, in an incident popularized in Michael Shaara's "Killer Angels," that Armistead attended a tearful farewell party. Held for the departing Southerners by their brother officers and wives at the home of Winfield and Almira Hancock in Los Angeles, California. Lewis gave to Hancock's wife, Almira, his prayer book, inscribed with "Trust in God and Fear Nothing." Other possessions he also gave the Hancock's, to be forwarded to his family in the event of his death. To his friend Winfield, he gave a new Major's uniform and goodbyes were said, in what was to be a final farewell between dear and trusted friends.

Traveling east, Lewis arrived in Richmond, Va., around mid September of 1861, and was appointed to the rank of Major in the Confederate Army on September 14, 1861. Within less than two weeks, he was appointed full Colonel and given command of the 57th Virginia Infantry Regiment which was in training just north of Richmond, VA.

On April 1, 1862 he was promoted to Brigadier General and was given the command of a brigade of Infantry. The brigade was made up of five Virginia regiments, the 9th, 14th, 38th, 53rd, and his old regiment, the 57th.

His service is document in accounts of the battles in which he fought. Armistead served in the battles of Seven Pines, the Seven Days (including a significant, but tragic, attack at Malvern Hill), Sharpsburg, and the Suffolk Campaign. But his most famous service came at his last fight, the Battle of Gettysburg, in July, 1863. In the lead when the remnants of Pickett's Division and other units pierced the Union Line on July 3, he crossed the wall at the Angle, his hat upon his sword, and he was then shot down. The badly wounded Armistead, by then captured by Federal soldiers, was immediately attended by Union Captain Henry H. Bingham, a Masonic Brother and member of Major General Winfield Hancock's staff. To Captain Bingham, Armistead pleaded "Tell General Hancock from me, that I have done him and you all a grave injustice." Later it was learned that General Hancock, his long time friend, was wounded almost at the same time as had Armistead.

Both General's Armistead and Hancock, as well as Captain Bingham were members of the Masonic Order. General Armistead was a member of the Alexandria-Washington Lodge, No. 22 in Alexandria, Virginia. The "Friend to Friend" Masonic Statue by Artist Ron Tunison, located in Gettysburg, PA depicts the wounded General Armistead being attended by Captain Bingham. The Statue was commissioned by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.

There is no evidence that the two saw each other in the two days of life left to Armistead. His wounds had not been considered life-threatening, (he was wounded in the upper right arm and above the left knee) but he was exhausted both mentally and physically, and died at the nearby Spangler farm, a temporary Union field hospital, about 9 a.m. July 5, 1863.

He was buried at the Spangler Farm and later re-buried alongside his uncle, George Armistead (the defender of the original "Star Spangled Banner" at Fort McHenry during the War of 1812), at St. Paul's Cemetery in Baltimore.

1822 George Stoneman, US Union general-major/(Gov-Calif, 1883-87)

Article from "The Buffalo Evening News Nov. 9, 1963"

Maj. Gen. George Stoneman's first act in the Civil War was to disobey an order - a disobedience that led eventually to his command of the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac and to a series of raids that played hob with the Rebel forces.

In command of Ft. Brown, Texas, in 1861, he was ordered to surrender to the Confederates. Instead , he evacuated the fort and with his men sailed by steamer to New York, from where he set out to rejoin the battle.

Operating in East Tennesee, one of his principal raids effected the capture and destruction of Saltville,Va., as well as the railroad line from Tennesee into Virginia. Of this attack, a Confederate writer said: "The damage inflicted upon Southwest Virginia by this Federal raid, in the destruction of railway and turnpike bridges, railway stations and warehouse, ironworks, and army supplies of all kinds was very injurious to the Confederacy, greatly crippling its defensive power in that region, and was also a serious blow to the Army of Northern Virginia.

Virgil Caine is the name, and I served on the Danville train
'Til Stoneman's cavalry came and tore up the tracks again
In the winter of sixty-five, we were hungry, just barely alive
By May the tenth Richmond had fell, it's a time I remember oh so well

The night they drove old Dixie down, and the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down, and the people were singing
They went "la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la"
The Band

1654 1st Jewish immigrant to US, Jacob Barsimson arrives in New Amsterdam

Jacob Barsimson Paved the Way for Full Citizenship Rights

The first Jewish settler who came to New Amsterdam, later to be called New York, was Jacob Barsimson, a Hollander who arrived on August 22, 1654. He was soon followed by other Jews who came from the West Indies and Brazil because they were disillusioned and disappointed with the religious and political situations that existed there. The Jews settling in New Amsterdam were seeking the equality of free men in a land of liberty where they could freely worship and have equal opportunities and obligations alongside the Christian citizens.
Jacob Barsimson and the other Jews found that New Amsterdam was no different from where they came. Governor Peter Stuyvesant treated them as separate citizens. They couldn’t engage in retail trade, practice handicrafts, hold a public position, serve in the militia or practice their religion in a synagogue or in gatherings.
Barsimson and the other Jews presented a petition to Governor Stuyvesant for the right to buy a burial plot, which was denied because there was no immediate need for it. Later, under pressure from the New Amsterdam Jews, Stuyvesant gave them the right to buy a burial plot.
Stuyvesant imposed many restrictions on the Jews in the colony. One of these was that Jews would be exempt from general training in the militia and guard duty on the walls of the fort on the condition that each male over 16 and under 60 years of age would contribute 65 stivers each month.
On September 22, 1654, Stuyvesant wrote to the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce to complain about the presence of Jewish refugees from Brazil, who had recently arrived in New Amsterdam. He felt that they were blasphemers of the name of Christ and that they would infect the colony with trouble.
Portuguese Jews, who escaped the Inquisition, had arrived in Holland in 1593. Some of them were investors in the West India Company, which controlled New Amsterdam. They petitioned the West India Company to allow the Brazilian Jews to remain in New Amsterdam as they would not be a burden.
In the meantime, Barsimson, Asser Levy, Abraham de Lucena, Jacob Cohen Henricques, and other New Amsterdam Jews kept putting pressure on Stuyvesant for full citizenship rights. They insisted on the right to serve in the militia and do guard duty on the walls of the city to protect the settlers and the cattle, which were kept inside the walls at night, from the raids and attacks of the Indians and the New England settlers. They continued their petitions and pressure until the Governor finally granted them full citizenship.
Barsimson and the other Jews proudly did their guard duty on the walls of the colony alongside the Christians militiamen. When the British conquered New Amsterdam and changed its name to New York, the Jewish settlers continued to have full citizenship.
This tiny group of Jews displayed the courage and bravery, under the leadership of Jacob Barsimson, to obtain equal citizenship for all Jews coming to the New World for the next three hundred years.

This article is from “Jewish Heroes and Heroines of America,” written by Seymour “Sy” Brody, of Delray Beach, FL, illustrated by Art Seiden, of Woodmere, NY, and published by Lifetime Books, Inc., Hollywood, Fl. Copyright protected.

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