I love American history and will find, purchase, and read anything remotely related to it. Todays post will supply you lovers of history with a few facts you may not be familiar with. The first section will list the normal necessities of the early American soldiers.
A flintlock musket and bayonet.
A bayonet and spontoon (a large metal spearhead on a wooden pike).
A sword for Infantry officers and a heavy saber for Cavalry.
A Tomahawk or Axe if no bayonet was available.
A Cartridge bag containing cartridge paper, lead balls, and black powder. Riflemen carried powder horns and shot bags.
A Flint and tinderbox for staring fires.
A hunting knife, knapsack and blanket.
A canteen with folding eating utensils, scissors, and fishhook.
A sundial compass.
AND NOW YOU’RE READY TO FIGHT
A Serious Footnote
In those days women weren’t permitted in combat but here’s a story of one determined woman named Deborah Sampson. Her ancestors arrived on the Mayflower and she spent most of her childhood as an indentured servant. At the age of 21 she disguised herself as a man and enlisted in the Massachusetts militia as a infantry soldier, fighting as “Robert Shurtleft” (her deceased brother) for almost 2 years. When rumors of her deception spread in her hometown, she was excommunicated by her Baptist church for “dressing in men’s clothing”. Badly wounded at Tarrytown, she treated herself. Later when she contracted a fever in Philadelphia, an Army doctor discovered her secret and General George Washington may have been advised. Neither man betrayed her, and under her assumed name, she received an honorable discharge as “Robert Shurtleft”. Her subsequent efforts to receive a military pension were championed by no less than Paul Revere.
Now that all of my technology issues have been resolved I decided to go off in a different direction for todays post. Since we’re in the middle of a war with Iran I decided to read up on the Civil War for stories and facts of that conflict that might help to further prove that all wars suck. As I was reading my way though the Civil War notes I discovered these three short stories I found interesting. Maybe you will too.
If the Civil War had a champion soldier, he must have been George Barnhart Zimplemen, of Terry’s Texas Rangers CSA, a private by choice, who went through more than 400 battles and skirmishes up to May, 1865, he led his regiment in the number of horses shot from under him, and suffered two wounds, one of which maimed him for life. He survived the war.
Two brothers, Jack and Jasper Walker, of Charlotte, North Carolina. Jasper, fought at the battle of Gettysburg with the 13th North Carolina regiment. Jasper was wounded on July 1st, as the fifth color-bearer of his regiment to be shot. He was captured and a surgeon amputated his right leg and then sent him to a Northern prison. On the retreat from Gettysburg, Jack Walker was also shot and lost his left leg by amputation. He also was sent to another northern Federal prison. The brothers returned home after the war to become prosperous citizens, familiar in the town as they stumped about on cork legs. On Jaspers wedding day, he accidently fell and broke his artificial limb, he then borrowed the leg of his gallant brother which fit perfectly. This, as Confederate veterans were fond of telling youngsters, was the only case on record in which one man was married while standing on the leg of another.
Paul A. Futz, who enlisted as a Confederate private in 1861 at the age of fifteen, was caught with two other soldiers smuggling quinine through the Federal lines. The smugglers chewed up their papers but their captors still shot the older two. The tradition is that the pardoning of Futz was President Lincoln’s last official act.
The more I dug into the Civil War the more weird stories I discovered. Be warned, I’m against any wars except those that threaten my way of life and that of my family. If you do that then your ass is in trouble.
With the world of sports, mainly soccer, currently ruling this country I felt a sports related post would keep the good will flowing and possibly put a smile on a few faces. Lets see . . .
🏀🏀
“When I played pro football, I never set out to hurt anybody deliberately . . . unless it was, you know, important, like a league game or something.” Dick Butkus
“Baseball would be a better game if more third basemen got hit in the mouth by line drives.” Dan Jenkins
George Steinbrenner is the salt of the earth, and the Yankee players are open wounds.” Scott Osler
“If your caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning, hold up a one-iron. Not even God can hit a one-iron.” Lee Trevino
🏈🏈
“Skiing combines outdoor fun with knocking down trees with your face.” Dave Barry
“I bet on a horse at ten to one. It didn’t come in until half-past five.” Henny Youngman
“I’m not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.” Possibly by Yogi Berra
“No Comment!” Coach Doug Moe on hearing he’d been voted the most quotable coach.
🏌️♀️⛳🏌️
My Fav:
“That’s getting a little close to home.”
Bob Feller on hearing that a foul ball had hit his mother.
I’ve just spent almost two solid days online listening to assorted visitors from Europe showing their appreciation of this country. I knew in my heart that the media in Europe was doing what the Media in America always does, attempting to direct how we should think and feel about damn near everything. I’m no soccer fan and probably never will be but any sport that has such a rabid fan base is a wonderful thing to witness. I feel even more patriotic than usual and that’s difficult to imagine. I’m also having much better thoughts about the European people themselves but not their governments. So today’s post is an limerick alert of a sort with the following collection of limericks that are sports related. Enjoy…
I really and truly hate the media. Even before the term “fake news” appeared, I was well ahead of the game. I was raised during a time when there were only three networks and the main voice for America on any subject was Walter Cronkite. Whatever he said was immediately believed as information that came down from the Mount with the Ten Commandments. Now that we’ve progressed a little (LOL) we’re beginning to find out what fools our parent’s generation was and unfortunately they passed some of that foolishness along to their kids. Eventually the rest of the country finally figured all of this out because of a few thousand regular folks taking to the airways armed with a new term called “Podcasts”. Thanks also to people like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg for maintaining freedom of speech on their social media platforms. With that being said todays post contains misquotes and misstatements from numerous and varied celebrities experts and media outlets. Enjoy . . .
“If it weren’t for electricity, we’d all be watching television by candlelight.” George Gobel – comedian.
“The crime bill passed by the senate would reinstate the federal death penalty for certain violent crimes: assassinating the President, hijacking an airliner, and murdering a government poultry inspector.” Published by Knight Ridder News Service
Retraction: The “Greek Special” is a huge, 18-inch pizza and not a huge, 18-inch penis, as described in an ad. Blondie’s Pizza would like to apologize for any confusion Friday’s ad may have caused. Correction in the Daily Californian (real fake news)
As a prize – a beautiful riding mower with optional ass scratcher. Announcer on TV who meant to say “grass catcher”.
“To say this book is about me (which is the main reason I was uncomfortable – me, me, me,. me . . . frightening) is ridiculous. This book is not about me.” Kate Moss, model, on her book, Kate: The Kate Moss Book
“We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.” Decca Recording Company turning down the Beatles, 1962
I really and truly hate the media. Even before the term “fake news” appeared, I was well ahead of the game. I was raised during a time when there were only three networks and the main voice for America on any subject was Walter Cronkite. Whatever he said was immediately believed as information that came down from the Mount with the Ten Commandments. Now that we’ve progressed a little (LOL) we’re beginning to find out what fools our parent’s generation was and unfortunately they passed some of that foolishness along to their kids. Eventually the rest of the country finally figured all of this out because of a few thousand regular folks taking to the airways armed with a new term called “Podcasts”. Thanks also to people like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg for maintaining freedom of speech on their social media platforms. With that being said todays post contains misquotes and misstatements from numerous and varied celebrities experts and media outlets. Enjoy . . .
“If it weren’t for electricity, we’d all be watching television by candlelight.” George Gobel – comedian.
“The crime bill passed by the senate would reinstate the federal death penalty for certain violent rimes: assassinating the President, hijacking an airliner, and murdering a government poultry inspector.” Published by Knight Ridder News Service
Retraction: The “Greek Special” is a huge, 18-inch pizza and not a huge, 18-inch penis, as described in an ad. Blondie’s Pizza would like to apologize for any confusion Friday’s ad may have caused. Correction in the Daily Californian (real fake news)
As a prize – a beautiful riding mower with optional ass scratcher. Announcer on TV who meant to say “grass catcher”.
“To say this book is about me (which is the main reason I was uncomfortable – me, me, me,. me . . . frightening) is ridiculous. This book is not about me.” Kate Moss, model, on her book, Kate: The Kate Moss Book
“We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.” Decca Recording Company turning down the Beatles, 1962
There aren’t many holidays ever mentioned on this blog but Memorial Day is the most important one for me. I’ve had friends killed in the service of this country and many more that have been maimed or worse through these continuing battles to keep this country of ours intact. For many years in the past returning veterans were mostly ignored. For years many disabled vets lived on the street due to mental illness (PTSB) as well as horrific wounds making it almost impossible to find work. It’s only in the last two decades that major steps have been taken by both government and public organizations to remedy that terrible situation. I usually don’t promote organizations on this blog but there is one major exception. Listed below is the link to the Wounded Warrior Project. That group has done as much to help our wounded vets as the government. In these perilous times the number of wounded and damaged veterans seems never ending but this country must be defended.
HONOR THE FALLEN BY SUPPORTING THE WOUNDED
If you want more information please click the link below. All veterans should be thanked and then cared for after they voluntarily put their lives on the line for all of us.
Having served three years in the Army changed many things about me. I was introduced to many new experiences that I hope never to repeat and I learned a lot about myself both good and bad. While I wasn’t involved in any massive world wars I got a taste of its reality by my visits to Korea and Vietnam. This post isn’t meant to be about me but about war itself. Todays post contains a few odd and strange facts from the most destructive war this country has ever faced, The American Civil War, which pitted brother against brother and families against families. The most widely cited figure is 618,222 total deaths, with 360,222 Union deaths and 258,000 Confederate deaths. The war’s toll was so severe that if the same percentage of the U.S. population had died today, it would be equivalent to 6 million deaths. Enjoy . . .
Of the future members of the United States Supreme Court who were of fighting age during the civil war, seven were in uniform. Four fought for the Union: Oliver Wendell Holmes, John M. Harlan, William B. Woods, and Stanley Matthews. Three fought for the Confederacy: Edward D. White, Horace H. Lurton, and Lucius Q.C. Lamar.
Union privates were paid only $16.00, but the gold value of their pay was more than seven times greater than that of the Confederates.
Slaves in Virginia could be hired for $30.00 a month in 1863 – yet the pay for an Army private was $11.00 a month. Confederates pay finally increased to $18.00 a month the next year.
Of the 546 nuns known to have served as battlefield nurses, 289 were from Ireland, 40 from Germany, and 12 from France.
Firing on both sides was so inaccurate that soldiers estimated it took a man’s weight in lead to kill a single enemy in battle. A Federal expert said that each Confederate who was shot required 240 pounds of powder and 900 pounds of lead.
A young Confederate officer, Captain S. Isadore Guillet, was fatally shot on the same horse on which three of his brothers had been previously killed. With his final wish he willed the horse to his nephew as he died.
Years before the war Jesse Grant, father of Ulysses, lived and worked in the home of Owen Brown, whose small son, played noisily about the frontier homestead,. That boy grew up to be John Brown, the Abolitionist martyr who lit the fuse of the war.
The Confederate General, Nathan Bedford Forrest, classed by some historians as the war’s most able cavalry commander, had twenty-nine horses shot from under him in the course of the war. He survived to be the founder of the Ku Klux Klan.
WAR IS TRULY HELL
(And as I also learned – Peacetime is a motherf**ker)
In keeping with the theme of this blog “everyuselessthing”, I thought a short history lesson was in order to supply readers with a little known trivia tidbit about NASA and the first moon landing. In 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon as we all know but were you aware that William Safire, President Nixon’s speechwriter, gave the president a draft of a speech he might have to give if the moon mission failed. It is claimed that the president never saw it. Here is a copy of that speech.
Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.
These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.
These two men are laying down their lives in mankind’s most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding. They will be mourned by their family and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.
In their exploration they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.
In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.
Others will follow, and surely find their way home, Man’s search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they remain the foremost in our hearts.
For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.
One final tidbit of irony. In 1999, on the 30th year anniversary of the moon landing, the three astronauts were shown this text for the first time by Tim Russert on Meet the Press.
Now that my never-ending retro trivia posts have been completed, it’s time to return to my first love those funny and bawdy LIMERICKS. As I’ve always said, I love limericks and I also love history. I’ve decided today to combine the two with a few limericks made famous during the World War II era. I assume some of these may have been written by a few GI’s but I can’t be sure. I find it refreshing that even during the worst war we’ve ever experienced, a sense of humor was still maintained. Some of these might be considered a little much for younger children. Be warned!
everyuselessthing.com 