Isolated HISTORICAL blurt thread? "On this day" thread?

[Roxanne Appleby]

On this day in 1944 the German generals tried to kill Hitler.

I read somewhere that this is remembered with some fondness in Germany. I don't know if that's true, but if so assume it's because this is something from that tragic era that Germans can feel a little bit good about.

A lot of people wouldn't have died if those generals had succeeded.

Beginning with those generals. (Rommel was one of them, in a very tangential way. Being forced to take poison was not at all tangential, though.)


(Maybe this theme is not enough to sustain a thread. This little tidbit wasn't worth a thread by itself and there's nowhere else to put it, so - we'll see.)

 

[cloudy]

Today in 1881, Sitting Bull surrendered.

Five years after General George A. Custer's infamous defeat at the Battle of Little Bighorn, Hunkpapa Teton Sioux leader Sitting Bull surrenders to the U.S. Army, which promises amnesty for him and his followers. Sitting Bull had been a major leader in the 1876 Sioux uprising that resulted in the death of Custer and 264 of his men at Little Bighorn. Pursued by the U.S. Army after the Indian victory, he escaped to Canada with his followers.

He was held as a prisoner of war at Fort Randall in South Dakota territory for two years and then was permitted to live on Standing Rock Reservation straddling North and South Dakota territory. In 1885, he traveled for a season with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West show and then returned to Standing Rock. In 1889, the spiritual proclamations of Sitting Bull influenced the rise of the "Ghost Dance," an Indian religious movement that proclaimed that the whites would disappear and the dead Indians and buffalo would return.

His support of the Ghost Dance movement had brought him into disfavor with government officials, and on December 15, 1890, Indian police burst into Sitting Bull's house in the Grand River area of South Dakota and attempted to arrest him. There is confusion as to what happened next. By some accounts, Sitting Bull's warriors shot the leader of the police, who immediately turned and gunned down Sitting Bull. In another account, the police were instructed by Major James McLaughlin, director of the Standing Rock Sioux Agency, to kill the chief at any sign of resistance. Whatever the case, Sitting Bull was fatally shot and died within hours. The Indian police hastily buried his body at Fort Yates within the Standing Rock Reservation. In 1953, his remains were moved into Mobridge, South Dakota, where a granite shaft marks his resting place.

 

[CharleyH]

Today in 1881, Sitting Bull surrendered.

Five years after General George A. Custer's infamous defeat at the Battle of Little Bighorn, Hunkpapa Teton Sioux leader Sitting Bull surrenders to the U.S. Army, which promises amnesty for him and his followers. Sitting Bull had been a major leader in the 1876 Sioux uprising that resulted in the death of Custer and 264 of his men at Little Bighorn. Pursued by the U.S. Army after the Indian victory, he escaped to Canada with his followers.

He was held as a prisoner of war at Fort Randall in South Dakota territory for two years and then was permitted to live on Standing Rock Reservation straddling North and South Dakota territory. In 1885, he traveled for a season with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West show and then returned to Standing Rock. In 1889, the spiritual proclamations of Sitting Bull influenced the rise of the "Ghost Dance," an Indian religious movement that proclaimed that the whites would disappear and the dead Indians and buffalo would return.

His support of the Ghost Dance movement had brought him into disfavor with government officials, and on December 15, 1890, Indian police burst into Sitting Bull's house in the Grand River area of South Dakota and attempted to arrest him. There is confusion as to what happened next. By some accounts, Sitting Bull's warriors shot the leader of the police, who immediately turned and gunned down Sitting Bull. In another account, the police were instructed by Major James McLaughlin, director of the Standing Rock Sioux Agency, to kill the chief at any sign of resistance. Whatever the case, Sitting Bull was fatally shot and died within hours. The Indian police hastily buried his body at Fort Yates within the Standing Rock Reservation. In 1953, his remains were moved into Mobridge, South Dakota, where a granite shaft marks his resting place.

BEST ANSWER! (PS - I'd have said something dumb and dumber)

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world the same day the generals tried to knock off Hitler, Americans landed on Guam as part of the campaign to take the Mariana Islands. (OK, I wikied to bump the thread. ) Actually, the critical phase of the campaign had occurred a month earler, with the great air battle known as the Marianas Turkey Shoot, in which superbly trained, magnificiently equipped and more experienced U.S. carrier pilots absolutely creamed a Japanese air armada sent to attack the invading fleet; and troops landed on Saipan and Tinian. This really was the death knell for Imperial Japan, because these are the islands from which B-29s launched their devastating fire raids nine months later, and of course the apogee of violence that brought these proceedings to an end - the Hiroshima and Nagaki A-bomb missions. (And all of that I did not wiki, thank you very much. )

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

OMG, it's after midnight, and yeah I just wikied again - July 21 was the day Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon in 1969!

I never did get that "one small step" business - I think any one of us on AH could have done a better job crafting those first words - but it really was a momentous milestone for humanity.

 

[Guest]

OMG, it's after midnight, and yeah I just wikied again - July 21 was the day Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon in 1969!

I never did get that "one small step" business - I think any one of us on AH could have done a better job crafting those first words - but it really was a momentous milestone for humanity.

Interesting that he may not have misspoke after all, though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Armstrong

"That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind"

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Interesting that he may not have misspoke after all, though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Armstrong

"That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind"

So he really did say "a man" but the transmission was garbled (maybe)? It makes me feel better to think that.

~~~~~~~~~

I see the Battle of Bull Run, or Manassas to the the Secsesh', began today. And so the bleeding begins, as this was the first really serious large battle. A tragic cock-up in lots of ways. The yankees could have won that battle, and it may have changed the dynamic of the war if they had. Stonewall Jackson saved the day and earned his nickname here, standing like a stone wall before a yankee advance.

I always think of that scene in the beginning of "Glory" where the Union troops are advancing and the one guy gets hit in the head with a cannonball. Presumably, because now there's a head, then there isn't. Matthew Broderick "sees the elephant" in this battle - which is Bull Run - and becomes the serious, somewhat tortured soul who takes on the first company (regiment?) of negro troops. Great movie, and Broderick was terrific (I always liked him anyway.)

 

[cloudy]

On this day in 1832, the Battle of Wisconsin Heights, between Blackhawk (Sauk tribe) and General James Henry's forces. In Blackhawk's words:

"During our encampment at the Four Lakes, we were hard put to, to obtain enough to eat to support nature. Situate in a swampy, marshy country, there was but little game of any sort to be found--and fish were equally scarce. We were forced to dig roots and bark trees, to obtain something to satisfy hunger and keep us alive! Several of our people became so much reduced, as actually to die with hunger! I concluded to remove my women and children across the Mississippi, that they might return to the Sac nation again. Accordingly, on the next day, we commenced moving, with five Winnebagoes acting as our guides, intending to descend the Ouisconsin.

We were proceeding to the Ouisconsin, with our women and children. We arrived and had commenced crossing them to an island, when we discovered a large body of the enemy coming towards us. We were now compelled to fight, or sacrifice our wives and children to the fury of the whites! I met them with fifty warriors, (having left the balance to assist our women and children in crossing) about a mile from the river, when an attack immediately commenced.

I was mounted on a fine horse, and was pleased to see my warriors so brave. I addressed them in a loud voice, telling them to stand their ground, and never yield it to the enemy. At this time I was on the rise of a hill, where I wished to form my warriors, that we might have some advantage over the whites. But the enemy succeeded in gaining this point, which compelled us to fall back into a deep ravine, from which we continued firing at them and they at us, until it began to grow dark.

My horse having been wounded twice during this engagement, and fearing from his loss of blood, that he would soon give out--and finding that the enemy would not come near enough to receive our fire, in the dusk of the evening--and knowing that our women and children had had sufficient time to reach the island in the Ouisconsin, I ordered my warriors to return, in different routes, and meet me at the Ouisconsin--and were astonished to find that the enemy were not disposed to pursue us.

In this skirmish, with fifty braves, I defended and accomplished my passage over the Ouisconsin, with a loss of only six men; though opposed by a host of mounted militia.

I would not have fought there, but to gain time for my women and children to cross to an island. A warrior will duly appreciate the embarrassments I labored under--and whatever may be the sentiments of the white people, in relation to this battle, my nation, though fallen, will award to me the reputation of a great brave in conducting it.

The loss of the enemy could not be ascertained by our party; but I am of opinion, that it was much greater, in proportion, than mine. We returned to the Ouisconsin, and crossed over to our people.

Myself and band having no means to descend the Ouisconsin, I started, over a rugged country, to go to the Mississippi, intending to cross it, and return to my nation. Many of our people were compelled to go on foot, for want of horses, which, in consequence of their having had nothing to eat for a long time, caused our march to be very slow. At length we arrived at the Mississippi, having lost some of our old men and little children, who perished on the way with hunger."

 

[cheerful_deviant]

~~~~~~~~~

I see the Battle of Bull Run, or Manassas to the the Secsesh', began today. And so the bleeding begins, as this was the first really serious large battle. A tragic cock-up in lots of ways. The yankees could have won that battle, and it may have changed the dynamic of the war if they had. Stonewall Jackson saved the day and earned his nickname here, standing like a stone wall before a yankee advance.

I always think of that scene in the beginning of "Glory" where the Union troops are advancing and the one guy gets hit in the head with a cannonball. Presumably, because now there's a head, then there isn't. Matthew Broderick "sees the elephant" in this battle - which is Bull Run - and becomes the serious, somewhat tortured soul who takes on the first company (regiment?) of negro troops. Great movie, and Broderick was terrific (I always liked him anyway.)

It's interesting to consider just how it all might have turned out if it had gone differently. If Stonewall had died, if the Union had been better coordinated... etc. How would it have changed the war? Would it have ended there? Would it have gone on anyway? If it hadn't gone on, would there have been a 2nd Civil War years later? Would we even be one nation now? All both interesting and terrible to consider.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

It's interesting to consider just how it all might have turned out if it had gone differently. If Stonewall had died, if the Union had been better coordinated... etc. How would it have changed the war? Would it have ended there? Would it have gone on anyway? If it hadn't gone on, would there have been a 2nd Civil War years later? Would we even be one nation now? All both interesting and terrible to consider.

On to Richmond, Sir!

Harry Turtledove has a series of books about what would have happened had the South won independence and there had been two unfriendly nations eyeball-to-eyeball across the Mason-Dixon line. It's not a pretty picture, and the full ugliness becomes apparent in the book about the WWI period: The Union is on Germany's side, the South is on Britain and France's side, and the full horror of trench warfare occurs across Kentucky and Ontario.

It's a sobering thought experiment (if a mediocre series of novels), and had the effect of making me more sympathetic to Lincoln's committment to pursue the war a la outrance in order to preserve the Union.

 

[cheerful_deviant]

On this day, July, 22

Edward Hopper, (one of my favorites) was born in 1882.

http://www.carolinaarts.com/1003colamus-hopper.jpg

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

On this day, July, 22

Edward Hopper, (one of my favorites) was born in 1882.

http://www.carolinaarts.com/1003colamus-hopper.jpg

I love Hopper. I spent countless hours in the Art Institute where his most famous painting resides. Got that one?

July 22
1934 - Outside Chicago's Biograph Theatre, "Public Enemy No. 1" John Dillinger is mortally wounded by FBI agents.
1937 - New Deal: The United States Senate votes down Roosevelt's court packing proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court of the United States.
1942 - Holocaust: The systematic deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto begins.

 

[starrkers]

July 23
In 1829 The typewriter is patented.

and, almost as important

In 1904 The Ice Cream Cone is invented.

 

[cloudy]

Today in 1996, in Syracuse, New York, Leon Shenandoah died at 81 years of age. Shenandoah was a leader of the Onondaga Indians. In 1969, he was named the Tadadaho, or the Spritual Leader, of the Iroquois Confederacy. Shenandoah live almost all of his life on the Onondaga Reservation in New York state.

Leon Shenandoah was the Fire Keeper of the Central Fire for the Haudenosaunee Confederacy for over a quarter of a century. Leon Shenandoah held a very sacred and ancient title. He was the "Tadodaho" from 1967 to his passing in 1996. Shenandoah was a great orator who served the people well and preserved the traditions of the people.

When Shenandoah was a small child, as he crawled along the floor, a pot of hot water was accidentally spilt on him scolding his entire body, which almost killed him. He was taken to a medicine man to be healed. A sacred ceremony was performed for Shenandoah, and during the ceremony a man stood up and said "You are that Boy!" This same man predicted that someday Shenandaoh would hold a special position amongst his people.

Leon Shenandoah did grow up to hold the special title of Tadodaho, and he was highly admired by all. He worked hard even in the face of great hardship to promote the teachings of the Great Law of Peace, Kaianeraserakowa.

Address to the General Assembly of the United Nations Delivered October 25, 1985 by Leon Shenandoah, Tadodaho, Haudenosaunee

Listen to the words of the Creator given to the first United Nations - the Haudenosaunee - over 1,000 years ago. "The Chiefs of the Haudenosaunee shall be mentors of the people for all time. The thickness of their skins shall be seven spans, which is to say that they shall be proof against anger, offensive action and criticism.

Their hearts shall be full of peace and good will, and their minds full of a yearning for the welfare of the people. With endless patience, they shall carry out their duty. Their firmness shall be tempered with a tenderness for their people. Neither anger nor fury shall find lodging in their minds, and all their words and actions shall be marked by calm deliberation."

In every nation there are wise and good people. These should be appointed Chiefs. They should be the advisers of their people and work for the good of all the people, and their power comes from the "Great Peace." A chief must never forget the Creator of mankind, never forget to ask the Creator for help. The Creator will guide our thoughts and strengthen us as we work to be faithful to our sacred trust and restore harmony among all peoples, all living creatures and Mother Earth.

We were instructed to carry a love for one another and to show a great respect for all the beings of this earth... In our ways spiritual consciousness is the highest form of politics. When people cease to respect and express gratitude for these many things, then all life will be destroyed, and human life on this planet will come to an end.

These are our times and responsibilities. Every human being has a sacred duty to protect the welfare of our Mother Earth, from whom all life comes. In order to do this we must recognize the enemy-the one within us. We must begin with ourselves.

We must live in harmony with the Natural World and recognize that excessive exploitation can only lead to our own destruction. We cannot trade the welfare of our future generations for profit now. We must abide by the Natural Law or be victims of its ultimate reality.

We must stand together, the four sacred colors of humans, as the one family we are, in the interest of peace. We must abolish nuclear and conventional weapons of war. When warriors are leaders, then you will have war. We must raise leaders of peace. We must unite the religions of the world as the spiritual force strong enough to prevail in peace. It is no longer good enough to cry, "Peace." We must act peace, live peace, and march in peace in alliance with the people of the world.

We are the spiritual energy that is thousands times stronger than nuclear energy. Our energy in the combined will of all people with the spirit of the Natural World, to be of one body, one heart and one mind for peace.

http://www.onondaganation.org/onondaga.hoyane3.jpg