The FReeper Foxhole Remembers the Trent Affair (11/8/1861) - Jan. 20th, 2005

America's Civil War Magazine | November, 1998 | Kenneth P. Czech

[SAMWolf]

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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High Seas Brouhaha

When an overzealous Union captain stopped and searched the British vessel Trent, a full-blown diplomatic crisis erupted between the United States and Great Britain. Interested Southerners watched with glee.

As U.S. Navy Lieutenant D.M. Fairfax stood in the bow of a bobbing whaleboat at midday of November 8, 1861, he was faced with a dilemma. Ahead loomed the bulk of the British mail steamer Trent. His orders were to remove--forcibly if necessary--two Confederate agents on their way to London. He was also to seize the vessel as a prize of war. Either act, he believed, could lead to war between the United States and Britain. Yet the instructions received from his commanding officer were explicit.

Fairfax's confusion stemmed from several factors, most notably Britain's declaration of neutrality in May 1861 and its recognition of the Northern and Southern states as formal belligerents. Such a dictate opened British ports to Confederate shipping as well as Northern. Likewise, British munitions and supplies could be transported by Union or Rebel vessels to North American ports.


Captain Charles D. Wilkes

To many observers and politicians in the North, however, London's declaration was but a short step away from recognizing the Confederate states as a sovereign nation. The Richmond government banked on the hope that both France and England could be induced to accept the Confederacy into the family of nations because of the need for Southern cotton by European mills. Prior to the Civil War, England and Continental Europe imported from 80 to 85 percent of its cotton from the South. Nearly one-fifth of the British population earned its livelihood from the cotton industry, while one-tenth of Britain's capital was invested in it as well. There was good reason for the South to court the European governments.

Confederate President Jefferson Davis assigned a pair of trusted political cronies to represent the South in London and Paris. James M. Mason, a former senator from Virginia, had gained experience as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. His assignment as minister to Britain was not to beg "for material aid or alliances offensive and defensive but for. . . a recognized place as a free and independent people."


John Slidell

Sixty-eight-year-old John Slidell was to transact diplomatic business with France. A wily politician, Slidell had served as a Louisiana senator and had only minor diplomatic experience in previous dealings with Mexico. He was, however, fluent in French.

Both Mason and Slidell hurried to Charleston, S.C., to gain passage on the fast blockade runner Nashville. Accompanying them were two secretaries, James E. Macfarland and George Eustis, as well as members of Slidell's family. When they reached Charleston in early October 1861, they found several Union warships blockading the harbor just beyond the range of Confederate coastal defense guns. Though armed, Nashville was too weak to provoke a battle with Yankee cruisers and usually relied on speed to sneak past picket ships.

Realizing the dangers of trying to run the blockade, Mason and Slidell opted for going overland through Texas and into Mexico, where they hoped they could book passage on a British ship to take them to London. Before they could attempt the journey, however, the captain of a shallow-draft coastal packet, Gordon, offered to take the diplomats to Cuba, where British vessels regularly docked.


James M. Mason, Confederate Envoy to England

Rain squalls buffeted Charleston as Gordon slipped from her quay just after midnight on October 12. The little ship, packed with coal and passengers, threaded its way through shallow waters where the deep-draft Nashville could not have gone. The storms and darkness served as perfect cover as the Rebels slid past Federal blockaders and steamed toward the open sea. "Here we are," Mason wrote gleefully, "on the deep blue sea; clear of all the Yankees. We ran the blockade in splendid style."

To confuse prowling Federal cruisers, Gordon's name was changed to Theodora. The packet sailed into Nassau, in the Bahamas, where the Confederates had hoped a British vessel might be docked. When they discovered that English mail ships could be anchored at Cuba, Theodora did an about-face and steamed southwest.

[SAMWolf]

On October 15, with coal bunkers nearly empty, Theodora cruised in sight of Cuba. An approaching Spanish warship hailed the little vessel. Slidell and Eustis went on board and were informed that British mail steamers did indeed dock at the port of Havana, but the latest one had just left. The next British packet would not arrive for three weeks. Mason decided they would wait in Cardenas, Cuba, and enjoy that city's hospitality before making an overland trek to Havana.


CSS Nashville

The Federal government, in the meantime, reacted to the rumors that Slidell and Mason had made good their escape from Charleston aboard Nashville. Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles ordered Admiral Samuel F. DuPont to dispatch a fast warship to Britain to intercept the blockade runner. On October 15, Commander John B. Marchand steamed the heavily armed James Adger toward Europe with orders to pursue Nashville all the way to the English Channel if necessary. Little did Marchand or any of the Washington hierarchy realize that the Confederate emissaries were soaking up the Caribbean sun in Cuba while Nashville remained placidly moored to her pier in Charleston.

When James Adger docked in England's Southampton harbor in early November, British officials were clearly worried. They were well aware that Mason and Slidell would eventually arrive on a British mail packet. Certainly Marchand could do little against the ship if it was in British territorial waters, but on the high seas it was understood that the American vessel could, in fact, search the English steamer and claim it as a prize of war if Confederate dispatches were found aboard it. Once claimed, a maritime prize court, acting under international law, would determine whether the mail ship had been seized legally and if it should be sold for profit or released to the British government. London legal experts, however, determined that James Adger "would have no right to remove Messrs. Mason and Slidell and carry them off as prisoners, leaving the ship [the mail packet] to pursue her voyage." If seizure was the name of the game, it would have to be an all-or-nothing case.


U.S. Secretary of State William Seward

While a Federal envoy to London, Charles Francis Adams, worked to convince British authorities that Marchand was on the lookout for Nashville alone, another Union naval officer in the Caribbean was about to light the fuse that would drive the United States and Great Britain to the brink of war. Sixty-two-year-old Captain Charles D. Wilkes had a less than enviable reputation in the United States Navy. Early in his career he had won accolades on his voyages of discovery to Antarctica and the Fiji Islands. A gifted astronomer, Wilkes had run afoul of his superiors with untimely displays of temper and insubordination. Consequently, he had been shunted aside to a minor bureaucratic role in Washington until receiving orders to take command of the steam warship San Jacinto on patrol off the coast of West Africa. Wilkes was simply to sail the ship home for refitting.

When Wilkes stepped aboard San Jacinto at the island of Fernando Po (now Bioka, Equatorial Guinea) on August 28, 1861, he was in no mood to simply steam complacently back to the Philadelphia Navy Yard. He believed that this command might be his only chance for action, so he proceeded to cruise along the African coast for nearly a month in search of Confederate raiders. When he finally turned the prow of his ship westward, he set course for the West Indies, once more in search of Rebel shipping. After stops at Jamaica and Grand Cayman, Wilkes eased into Cienfuegos on Cuba's southern coast. There he learned that Mason and Slidell were leaving Havana for Europe.


Lord Palmerston

Wilkes was ecstatic when he discovered that the Confederate diplomats were still in Havana on October 30. They were due to leave on November 7 aboard the British mail ship Trent, which was bound for the island of St. Thomas before heading for England. Poring over his maritime law books, Wilkes decided he could legally take Trent with its passengers once she left Spanish territorial waters. "If she [Trent] left at the usual time," Wilkes noted, "she must pass us about noon on the 8th" in the Bahama Channel, "and we could not possibly miss her."

[SAMWolf]

At 11:40 a.m. on November 8, 1861, lookouts on San Jacinto spotted Trent. As the mail packet neared, it unfurled the Union Jack. Wilkes responded by firing a shot well in front of its bow. When the British ship did not slow down, he ordered his forward pivot gun to place a shell just in front of the little steamer. Finally, Trent hove to.


THE SEIZURE BY CAPTAIN WILKS, OFTHE UNITED STATES' WARSHIP SAN JACINTO, OF MESSRS. SLIDELL AND MASON, CONFEDERATE COMMISSIONERS, ON BOARD THE BRITISH MAIL-STEAMER TRENT

Lieutenant Fairfax was summoned to the quarterdeck, where Wilkes presented him with his orders. "Should Mr. Mason, Mr. Slidell, Mr. Eustis and Mr. Macfarland be on board," they read, "make them prisoners and send them on board this ship immediately and take possession of [Trent] as a prize." He was also to seize any dispatches and correspondence he might find.

Armed with cutlasses and pistols, Fairfax's boarding party of 20 men rowed toward the mail packet. Realizing what was about to happen, Mason ordered Macfarland "to take the dispatch bag which contained my public papers, credentials, instructions, etc., ... and deliver it to the mail agent of the steamer," where it could be locked in the mail room.. The agent, Richard Williams, promised he would see that the papers reached London.

Fairfax was certain that Wilkes was creating an international incident and he had no intention of enlarging its scope. Ordering his armed escort to remain in the whaleboat, the lieutenant stepped aboard Trent to meet an obviously angry Captain James Moir. As British crewmen and Southern passengers crowded around, Fairfax announced he had orders "to arrest Mr. Mason and Mr. Slidell and their secretaries, and send them prisoners on board the United States war vessel near by."

Upon hearing these words, the British crew and passengers threatened the American officer. Union sailors, in turn, clambered on deck to protect Fairfax. For a long moment, it looked as if a scuffle would break out. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and violence was avoided. Both Mason and Slidell decided to go into custody peacefully, especially since the latter's family was on board. When Fairfax requested to examine the Trent's mailroom for Confederate papers, the British firmly refused. To gain access, he was sure, would require San Jacinto to take Trent as a prize--a certain act of war.

As the Southern diplomats were being transferred to the whaleboat, Slidell's wife and daughters heaped verbal abuse on the Yankee sailors. When Trent's deck pitched in the roll of a wave, one of Slidell's daughters lost her balance and half fell against Fairfax, who quickly steadied her. In later descriptions of the affair, Fairfax would be charged with callous behavior.


Caption: AN AMERICAN ANSWER: In this "Harper's Weekly" cartoon after the United States had released Mason and Slidell to British custody, Uncle Sam is telling John Bull that he can have the two prisoners and that there are plenty more like them at Sing Sing prison, if he is interested.

A strict disciplinarian, Wilkes was unhappy that Fairfax had not seized Trent as a prize of war. He did, however, accept the lieutenant's argument that placing a prize crew aboard the packet to take her back to a Northern port would weaken San Jacinto's capacity as a fighting ship. Fairfax also brought attention to the plight of innocent passengers, including British civilians, if the mail ship was taken north.

As Wilkes steered along the eastern seaboard, he telegraphed news of his fateful seizure of the Confederate agents. His story spread like wildfire as Northern newspapers' headlines trumpeted the feat. The November 19 edition of The New York Times proudly proclaimed, "We do not believe the American heart ever thrilled with more genuine delight than it did yesterday, at the intelligence of the capture of Messrs. Slidell and Mason." To a Northern populace strong in its belief that Britain was decidedly pro-South, the Trent affair seemed designed to put John Bull in his proper place.

Wilkes was ordered by an ebullient Federal administration to take the Rebel envoys to the prison at Fort Warren in Boston Harbor. But members of Abraham Lincoln's cabinet began focusing on the broader implications of the seizure of Trent's passengers. The affair, they urged, should be settled peacefully with Great Britain--and the quicker, the better.


CAPTAIN MOIR, OF THE TRENT.

In London, meanwhile, news of the Trent incident broke on November 27. Lord Palmerston,, the British prime minister, called an immediate cabinet meeting. From the information that had filtered into the Foreign Office, it appeared that Wilkes had committed an illegal act at sea by taking passengers but not seizing the ship. It also appeared that the Federal government had ordered him to do so. The British administration called the affair "a gross outrage and violation of international law." Palmerston advocated placing an embargo on arms shipped to the United States and preparing the powerful Channel Fleet to sail to North American waters. War seemed imminent--British pride was at stake.

Indignation and war fever flared among the British populace and newspapers. Pro-Northern politician John Bright described public sentiment as being "every sword leaping from its scabbard, and every man looking about for his pistols and blunderbusses." An American resident in London noted that "the people are frantic with rage, and were the country polled, I fear 999 men out of a thousand would declare for war."

In assuming a bellicose posture, Britain also prepared its Canadian dominion for the likelihood of war with the North. Canada, in fact, was woefully underprepared for hostilities with its powerful neighbor to the south. At the end of March 1861 there were only 4,300 British regulars in Canada, with 2,100 of those stationed in the maritime province of Nova Scotia. The available supply of ammunition consisted mostly of balls for antiquated muskets.

Governor General of Canada Sir Charles Stanley Monck nevertheless ordered his provincial militia to be ready for action. He instructed the British military commander in North America, Sir Fenwick Williams, to assemble his troops "as quiet as possible, not on account of the Americans but lest an alarm and panic should be excited amongst our people." Dispatches from England ordered a concentration of troops along the Beauharnois, Cornwall and Welland canals. If war erupted, Canadian regulars and militia were to seize Fort Montgomery at Rouse's Point and Fort Niagara, both in New York state, to prevent any Yankee invasion toward Montreal and Toronto.

Eighteen British transport ships loaded with men, arms and supplies were ordered to Canada to bolster the feeble force already there. Sixteen batteries of Royal Artillery were earmarked for the dominion, along with four companies of Royal Engineers and 11 battalions of infantry, a total of more than 11,000 men. Although London's Colonial and War offices had promised 100,000 rifles for the defense of Canada, only 50,000 were sent, with 2 1/4 million rounds of ammunition.

Additional Sources:

www.scv674.org
www.photolib.noaa.gov
www.civil-war.net
dosfan.lib.uic.edu
www.etsu.edu
cti.library.emory.edu
www.geocities.com/theprezz/trent
hpd.dnr.state.ga.us
en.wikipedia.org
www.canadianheritage.org
www.nlc-bnc.ca

[SAMWolf]

The first of the British transports to reach North America in December was Persia, of the Cunard Line. Ice was already forming in the St. Lawrence River as the vessel steamed past Anticosti Island. Fifty miles from the nearest railhead at Riviere du Loup, the ship was forced to stop due to heavy ice. With its screws churning to keep the ice from forming, Persia disgorged its load of soldiers, but was forced to steam upriver with nearly all the heavy baggage still on board.


Charles Stanley Monck

Warned that ice had nearly locked in Persia, the other British transports unloaded at Halifax and St. John's. One vessel, Victoria, ran into trouble and returned to England. Another, Parana, ran aground during a severe snow squall.

Canadians rallied to the plight of British soldiers stranded at isolated landing points, far from railways, in the dead of winter. Locals acted as guides, while sleds and sleighs were provided for both men and equipment. As British soldiers marched from New Brunswick, Lt. Col. Garnet Wolseley remarked that "all possible arrangements have been made along the road for the comfort of the men, and no expense spared in providing" them with special suits of warm clothing, including sheepskin coats, waterproof capes and "creepers for walking on snow."

As British warships converged near Bermuda and Havana in the West Indies, public sentiment in Canada mirrored that of the mother country. One observer near the American-Canadian border at Christmas saw "every prospect of war" wherever he looked. An editorial in the St. John's (Newfoundland) Christian Watchman was typical: "A war now would forever deliver us from all fear of our dangerous neighbour, and elevate us to a position of importance and influence."

Amid the rumors and preparations for war, the British cabinet drafted an ultimatum to the United States calling for the return of Mason and Slidell to British protection and a complete apology from the Lincoln government. Provocative in tone, the document was sent to Queen Victoria for her signature on November 30. The Queen's ailing consort, Prince Albert, studied the ultimatum throughout the night of the 30th until the wee hours of Sunday, December 1.


The Edgar Cecil loading cannon at Halifax. During the American Civil War the city's military reached 18 000.

Albert, suffering from severe catarrh and insomnia, had probably been influenced by the moderating stand of the London Times. While most daily newspapers clamored for war, the Times suggested that Wilkes had operated on his own in stopping Trent, and had not been issued orders by Lincoln's government. Albert modified the tone of the cabinet's message, deliberately eliminating passages that would back the Americans into a corner, and leaving them a loophole to save face. War with the United States, he believed, was certainly not in the best interests of England. As he presented the revised document to the Queen, he complained that "I feel so weak I have hardly been able to hold my pen." Albert collapsed on December 2 and died 12 days later of typhoid.

As British and Northern diplomats sorted out the tangled threads of the Trent incident, Southern newspapers trumpeted their glee. Most Southerners, noted one observer, "rejoiced in the prospect of retaliation by England" against the Federals. The Richmond Enquirer castigated Wilkes, who it charged had "violated the rights of embassy," long "held sacred, even among barbarians." The Confederacy seemed on the verge of gaining the recognition by European powers it so desperately sought.

On December 23, Lord Lyons, the British minister to America, presented the revised British dispatch to U.S. Secretary of State William Seward in Washington. Seward hated the thought of knuckling under to the British, but he realized a war with both Britain and the South was a foolhardy venture. He had also learned that Emperor Louis Napoleon of France had firmly taken the British side and that "all the foreign maritime powers" had "agreed that the act [of Wilkes] was a violation of public law." It remained, however, to convince Lincoln and the rest of the cabinet to give in to the British demands.


Volunteer regiment of Elora, Ontario, May 1862. By 1870, the active militia numbered over 30 000 to defend against threats from the United States.

Tension mounted as debates over war filled the air. The atmosphere in the American legation in London "would have gorged a glutton of gloom." "The opinion now prevails," wrote a Confederate envoy in London, "that there will be war. . .[England] will have a vast steam fleet upon the American coast and will sweep away the blockading squadrons from before our ports." Lord John Russell at London's Foreign Office wrote to Palmerston that "we may now expect 40 or 50,000" Federal troops to invade Canada.

Seward, Lincoln and the cabinet met on Christmas Day to hammer out their decision. Lincoln at first wanted to procrastinate, but he was soon convinced that the surrendering of Mason and Slidell had to be carried out at once. As Lord Russell noted in London while awaiting the decision, "I am still inclined to think Lincoln will submit, but not till the clock is 59 minutes past 11."

Seward drafted a document to Lord Lyons stating that America was releasing the prisoners because Captain Wilkes had not acted under orders, and that by not seizing Trent, instead allowing it to continue its course, a judicial examination of the act to determine its legality had been circumvented. Seward also reaffirmed that Mason and Slidell were not being released because of British principles, but because of the uniquely American stance regarding the search and seizure of neutral vessels formulated by James Madison in 1804.

The Federal government had found the loophole the prince consort had offered. Although several newspapers and politicians condemned Seward's reply to the British, many more praised the effort since it averted a terrible war. Likewise, when news of the decision reached London on January 8, 1862, there was a long sigh of relief. "We draw a long breath, and are thankful. . .we have come out of this trial with our honour saved and no blood spilt," editorialized the London Times.

Mason and Slidell were duly removed from Fort Warren and boarded HMS Rinaldo at Provincetown, Mass. The British ship struggled through a blinding gale as it transferred its famous guests to St. Thomas in the Caribbean. On January 14, the diplomats boarded the British mail steamer La Plata, bound for Southampton, to continue the journey that had been interrupted two months before.

Although Confederate newspapers ridiculed the North for seemingly bowing to a British dictate, the South was further away than ever from receiving international recognition as a nation. Its lever of cotton had weakened as Britain found alternative sources, especially from India. When Mason and Slidell reached England, London was wrapped in a pall of mourning over the death of Albert. Queen Victoria refused to see visitors and little attention was paid to the new diplomats. Lord Russell wrote to Lyons on February 8, "I am heart and soul a neutral...what a fuss we have had about these two men."

Originally greeted as a hero by his nation, Wilkes soon foundered in the storm of controversy. He decried Seward's and Lincoln's actions "as a craven yielding and abandonment of all the good. . .done by [Mason's and Slidell's] capture." He did not accept the government's interpretation that his seizure of the envoys was tantamount to impressment--the same kind of action that had been the leading cause of the War of 1812. Had he but taken Trent to port to await a judicial decision, the affair probably would have blown over.

Still demanding the limelight, Wilkes proved to be an embarrassment to the Navy. He was promoted to commander and accepted the command of a flotilla on the James River. After disobeying an order, he was transferred to a cruiser squadron in the West Indies. Further acts of insubordination ensued and he was eventually court-martialed and discharged.

As for the ill-fated San Jacinto, she was wrecked off the Bahamas on January 1, 1865. Six years later, her hulk was sold at auction for $224.61, ironically, to the British.

[SAMWolf]

Veterans for Constitution Restoration is a non-profit, non-partisan educational and grassroots activist organization. The primary area of concern to all VetsCoR members is that our national and local educational systems fall short in teaching students and all American citizens the history and underlying principles on which our Constitutional republic-based system of self-government was founded. VetsCoR members are also very concerned that the Federal government long ago over-stepped its limited authority as clearly specified in the United States Constitution, as well as the Founding Fathers' supporting letters, essays, and other public documents.

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UPDATED THROUGH APRIL 2004



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Good Thursday Morning Everyone.

It's really me today PE. :-)



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[alfa6]

It is a night shift Bumperoonie for the Freeper Foxhole, wish I had some Ice Cold Root Beer to help wash down my dinner. :-)

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Snippy.

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Foxhole.

[The Mayor]

January 20, 2005

If

Read: John 13:1-17

If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. —John 13:17

Bible In One Year: Exodus 14-17

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A new government regulation will require US foodmakers to list the amount of "trans fat" on the labels of most food products purchased in stores. Trans fat, which has been linked to heart disease, high cholesterol, and obesity, is something most people should limit or avoid altogether. The Food and Drug Administration estimates that Americans could save up to $1.8 billion in medical costs if they reduce their consumption of trans fats.

The key word is if—a reminder that the new labeling information will benefit only those who change their eating habits. It's not what we know but what we do that counts.

After Jesus washed His disciples' feet and told them to follow His example in serving each other, He told them: "A servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them" (John 13:16-17).

In the Bible, we learn what God wants us to do. Obedience moves that knowledge from our heads to our hands in serving others. And not only that—we ourselves are blessed when we obey what God's Word tells us to do. But it all depends on one little word—if. —David McCasland

The blessings of the Lord are known
By those who will obey;
His wisdom, truth, and love are shown
To all who choose His way. —D. De Haan

The way of obedience is the way of blessing.

[GailA]

Good morning

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone.

[Professional Engineer]

Good morning ladies. Flag-o-Gram. [that really you Snippy?]

[SAMWolf]

Morning Snippy.

[SAMWolf]

Morning alfa6.

A&W has combined with the local KFC here. :-)

[SAMWolf]

Morning Aeronaut.

[SAMWolf]

Morning E.G.C.

Supposed to be in the 50's today but the rain is coming back.

[SAMWolf]

Morning Mayor.

It's not what we know but what we do that counts.

Amen!

[SAMWolf]

Morning PE.

LOL! Snippy misses one day and she'll pay for at least a week. :-)

[msdrby]

Happy Inauguration Day!

[msdrby]

Combined with Long John Silver's here.

[Valin]

On this Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on January 20:
1716 Carlos III king of Naples/Spain (1759-88) Pompei/Jesuits
1732 Richard H Lee US farmer (signed Declaration of Independence)
1763 Theobald Wolfe Tone Irish patriot
1806 Nathaniel Willis writer/editor/founder (American Monthly Magazine)
1812 Ralph Pomeroy Buckland Brevet Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1892
1813 Jacon Gartner Lauman Brevet Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1867
1820 Anne Jemima Clough England, promoted higher education for women
1844 Johan Peter Selmer composer
1847 W R Pettiford Founder (Alabama Penny Savings Bank)
1883 Betram Home Ramsay English admiral/Commander Allied Naval Forces
1884 AP Merritt US, sci-fi author (Moon Pool, Creep Shadow!)
1889 Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter Mooringsport LA, blues 12 string guitarist (Rock Island Line)
1894 Harold L Gray creator (Little Orphan Annie) ARF
1896 George Burns [Nathan Birnbaum], New York City NY, actor/comedian (Oh God)
1903 Leon Ames Portland Indiana, actor (Mr Ed, Father of the Bride)
1915 Joe Hitchcock darts player (leader of St Dunstan's Four)
1920 DeForest Kelley Atlanta GA, actor (Dr McCoy-Star Trek)
1920 Federico Fellini Rimini Italy, director (8½, Satyricon, La Dolce Vita)
1926 Patricia Neal Packard KY, actress (Hud, Subject Was Roses)
1928 Martin Landau Brooklyn NY, actor (Mission Impossible, Tucker, Space 1999)
1929 Arte Johnson Chicago IL, comedian (Laugh-in, Don't Call Me Charlie)
1930 Edwin E "Buzz" Aldrin Jr Montclair NJ, USAF/astronaut (Gemini 12, Apollo 11)
1934 Tom Baker actor (Dr. Who) Have a jellybaby
1942 Slim Whitman yodeler/country singer (Home on the Range)
1946 David Lynch Missoula MT, actor/director (Blue Velvet, Dune, Eraserhead, Twin Peaks)
1948 Jerry L Ross Indiana, Lieutenant-Colonel USAF/astronaut (STS 61B, 27, 37, 55, 74, 88)
1948 Anatoly(Natan) Shcharansky Soviet human rights activist/émigré/author
1955 Joe Doherty Ireland, IRA activist (jailed in US)
1956 Bill Maher comedian(?) (He used to be someone)
1956 John McNally Naha Okinawa, US rapid fire pistol (Olympics-84, 88, 92, 96)
1966 Tia Carrere Honolulu HI, actress (Wayne's World, General Hospital)
1971 Karin Smith Miss Minnesota USA (1996)

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Deaths which occurred on January 20:
0250 Fabianus Pope (236-50)/saint, dies
0820 Abu Abdallah M ibn Idris al-Sjafi'i Islamic (Book of Mother), dies
0842 Theophilus Byzantine kaiser (829-42), dies
0882 Louis II/III the Younger German king (876-82), dies
1569 Miles Coverdale English bible translator Great bible, dies at 80
1612 Rudolf II von Habsburg emperor of Germany (1576-1612), dies at 59
1639 Mustapha I sultan of Turkey (1622-23), dies
1745 Charles VII Albert German emperor (1742-45), dies at 47
1862 General Felix Zollicoffer killed after mistakenly riding into union lines
1882 John Linnell British painter/miniaturist/engraver, dies
1891 David Kalakahua emperor of Hawaii, dies
1900 R D Blackmore English novelist (Lorna Doone), dies at 74
1936 King George V of Britain dies at 70, succeeded by Edward VIII
1947 Josh Gibson Negro League slugger, dies of a brain tumor at age 35
1948 Mahatma Gandhi India's pacifist, assassinated
1965 Alan Freed DJ (Named Rock and Roll), dies at 42
1984 Peter John [Johnny] Weissmuller actor (Tarzan, Jungle Jim), dies after a series of strokes in Acapulco at 79
1984 Jackie Wilson rocker, dies at 49 from a heart attack
1988 Philippe de Rothschild Bordeaux Vineyard manager, dies in Paris at 86
1989 Beatrice Lillie actress (Thoroughly Modern Millie), dies at 94
1992 Muhammad Abd al-Khaliq Hassuna Secretary-General of Arab League (1952-72), dies
1992 Roberto d'Aubuisson leader of El Salvador, dies
1993 Audrey Hepburn actress (Breakfast at Tiffany's, Roman Holiday), dies at 63
1996 Gerald Joseph Mulligan baritone saxophonist/composer, dies at 68
1997 Curt Flood centerfielder (Cards), dies of throat cancer at 59

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1968 HOLLEY TILDEN S.---CAMERON TX.
["BELIEVED DEAD, EJEC, KILLED IN SHOOTOUT"]
1968 KETTERER JAMES A.---MILWAUKEE WI.
1972 BERDAHL DAVID D.---MINOT ND.
1972 EDWARDS HARRY J.---HOLLY HILL SC.
[REMAINS IDENTIFIED 01 JULY 85]

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

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On this day...
0250 St Fabian ends his reign as Catholic Pope (236-50)
0820 Book of mother, published
1045 Giovanni di Sabina elected Pope Sylvester III
1265 1st English Parliament called into session by Earl of Leicester
1320 Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland
1503 Casa Contratacion (Board of Trade) found (Spain) to deal with American affairs
1778 1st American military court martial trial begins, Cambridge MA
1783 Hostilities cease in Revolutionary War
1785 Samuel Ellis advertises to sell Oyster Island (Ellis Island), no takers
1788 Pioneer African Baptist church organizes in Savannah GA
1801 John Marshall appointed US chief justice
1809 1st US geology book published by William Maclure
1840 Dumont D'Urville discovers Adélie Land, Antarctica
1841 China cedes Hong Kong to the British
1850 Investigator, 1st ship to effect northwest passage, leaves England
1868 Florida constitutional convention meets in Tallahassee
1869 Elizabeth Cady Stanton becomes 1st woman to testify before Congress
1870 "City of Boston" vanishes at sea with all 177 aboard
1870 Hiram R Revels elected to fill unexpired term of Jefferson Davis
1879 British troops under Lord Chelmsford set camp at Isandlwana
1887 US Senate approves the naval base lease of Pearl Harbor
1921 Turkey declared in remnants of the Ottoman Empire
1929 1st feature talking motion picture taken outdoors, "In Old Arizona"
1930 1st radio broadcast of "Lone Ranger" (WXYZ-Detroit)
1934 Japan sends Henry Pu Yi as regent to emperor of Manchuria
1936 Edward VIII succeeds British king George V
1937 -45ºF (-43ºC), Boca CA (state record)
1937 1st Inauguration day on Jan 20th, (held every 4th years thereafter)
1939 Hitler proclaims to German parliament to exterminate all European Jews
1942 Nazi officials hold notorious Wannsee conference in Berlin deciding on "final solution" calling for extermination of Europe's Jews
1942 Japanese air raid on Rabaul New Britain
1942 Japanese invade Burma
1943 Lead SD, temp is 52ºF, while 1.5 miles away Deadwood SD records -16ºF
1944 RAF drops 2300 ton bombs on Berlin
1945 FDR sworn-in for an unprecedented 4th term as President
1949 President Truman announces his point 4 program
1949 J Edgar Hoover gives Shirley Temple a tear gas fountain pen (For the woman who has everthing)
1952 British army occupies Ismailiya, Suez Canal Zone
1953 1st live coast-to-coast inauguration address (Eisenhower)
1957 Gomulka wins Poland's parliamentary election
1961 Arthur M Ramsay becomes archbishop of Canterbury
1964 "Meet The Beatles" album released in US
1965 JPL proposes modified Apollo flight to fly around Mars & return
1965 The Beatles appear on Shindig (ABC-TV)
1965 The Byrds record "Mr Tambourine Man"
1965 Generalissimo Francisco Franco meets with Jewish representatives to discuss legitimizing Jewish communities in Spain
1969 Richard M Nixon inaugurated as President
1969 U of Arizona reports 1st optical id of pulsar (in Crab Nebula)
1970 Super Fight, computer mock championship between Ali & Marciano
1977 George Bush, ends term as 11th director of CIA
1980 President Jimmy Carter announces US boycott of Olympics in Moscow
1980 Super Bowl XIV Pittsburgh Steelers beat Los Angeles Rams, 31-19 in Pasadena; Super Bowl MVP Terry Bradshaw, Pittsburgh, Quarterback
1981 52 Americans held hostage in Iran for 444 days freed
1981 Admiral Stansfield Turner, USN (Retired), ends term as 12th director of CIA

1981 Ronald Reagan inaugurated as President

1985 Cold front strikes US, at least 40 die (-27ºF (-33ºC) in Chicago)
1986 Chunnel announced (railroad tunnel under English Channel)
1988 Arizona committee opens hearing on impeachment of Governor Evan Mecham
1989 George H W Bush inaugurated as 41st President & Quayle becomes 44th Vice President
1989 Reagan becomes 1st President elected in a "0" year, since 1840, to leave office alive
1991 Iraq pardes captured Allied airmen on TV
1991 US Patriot missiles begins shooting down Iraqi missiles
1993 Bill (Willard) Clinton inaugurated as 42nd President
1997 Comet Hale-Bopp crosses Mars' orbit
2001 George W Bush inaugurated as President
2005 George W Bush inaugurated as President

---

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Bulgaria : Grandmother's Day/Babin Den
Mali : National Army Day
UK : St. Agnes Eve
Brazil : San Sebastian Day
US : Cuckoo Dancing Week (Day 3)
US : Stay Young Forever Day
March of Dimes Birth Defects Month

---

Religious Observances
Anglican, Roman Catholic : Memorial of St Fabian, 20th pope (236-50) (opt)
Memorial of St Sebastian, martyr/patron of Andorra (opt)
Roman Catholic : Eve of St Agnes

---

Religious History
1669 Birth of Susannah Annesley, "Mother of Methodism." Born the 25th child in her family, she married Samuel Wesley in 1689 and bore him 19 children, the last two being John (1703) and Charles (1707) Wesley.
1758 English founder of Methodism John Wesley wrote in a letter: 'I cannot think of you, without thinking of God. Others often lead me to Him, as it were, going round about. You bring me straight into His presence.'
1879 Birth of Albert S. Reitz, American Baptist evangelist and clergyman. He published over 100 hymns during his lifetime. Of these, the one best remembered today is "Teach Me to Pray, Lord."
1918 In Russia, following the Bolshevik Revolution, all church property was confiscated and all religious instruction in the schools was abolished.
1942 At the notorious Wannsee Conference in Berlin, German Nazi officials decided on their "final solution," which called for a mass extermination of all the Jews in Europe.

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

---

Thought for the day :
"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."

[E.G.C.]

Good morning folks.

We're watching live coverage of the Presidential Inaugaration.

For those running errands many radio stations are also carrying live coverage. Just tune into a station to listen in.

We're forecast to hit near 70 today.

How's it going, Snippy?

[Valin]

John Slidell
(1793 - 1871)


Born in New York City, N.Y., 1793, the Northern-born Slidell rose to prominence as a Louisiana politician in the decades before the Civil War. A lawyer who began his career as a businessman, he moved to New Orleans in 1819 after his mercantile interests failed during the War of 1812.

Slidell lost a bid for Congress in 1828 and was frustrated in his political ambitions until 1843, when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. As a states-rights Democrat he supported James K. Polk for the presidency in 1844 and used questionable legal means to assure him a Louisiana majority in the presidential election. Polk appointed Slidell commissioner to Mexico, with instructions to settle the Texas-Mexico boundary dispute and purchase New Mexico and California. The mission failed when the Mexican government refused to accept his credentials.

Slidell was elected to the Senate in 1853 and cast his lot with other pro-Southern congressmen to repeal the Missouri Compromise, acquire Cuba, and admit Kansas under the Lecompton constitution. In the 1860 campaign Slidell supported Democratic presidential candidate John C. Breckinridge, but remained a pro-Union moderate until Abraham Lincoln's election pushed the Southern states into seceding. Siding with the South, Slidell accepted a diplomatic appointment to represent the Confederacy in France.

His arrival in Europe was delayed by the TRENT AFFAIR, when he and fellow diplomat James M. Mason were removed from their British-registered ship by the commander of a Federal vessel. Once there, he found the French sympathetic to the Confederate cause, but met with little success in securing extensive military aid or the Franco-Confederate treaty of alliance he sought. Slidell remained in France lobbying throughout the war. Though he was never able to accomplish a Franco-Confederate liaison, and though many of his Confederate colleagues distrusted him, Slidell, through his political abilities and bolstered by his marriage to a Louisiana Creole woman, arranged some Confederate financing through private French interests.

Uncertain of his safety at home after the war, Slidell and his family stayed in Paris. He never sought pardon from the Federal government for his Confederate service, dying in London, England, 29 July 1871.

Source: Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War

[Valin]

MASON, James Murray, (1798 - 1871)

---

Senate Years of Service: 1847-1861
Party: Democrat


MASON, James Murray, a Representative and a Senator from Virginia; born on Analostan Island, Fairfax County, Va. (now Theodore Roosevelt Island, Washington, D.C.), November 3, 1798; studied under a private tutor and at an academy at Georgetown, D.C.; graduated from the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia in 1818 and from the law department of William and Mary College at Williamsburg in 1820; admitted to the bar and practiced in Winchester, Va., in 1820 and 1821; delegate to the Virginia constitutional convention in 1829; member, State house of delegates 1826-1832, with the exception of 1827-1828; presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1832; elected as a Jackson Democrat to the Twenty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1837-March 3, 1839); elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1847 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Isaac S. Pennybacker; reelected in 1850 and 1856 and served from January 21, 1847, until March 28, 1861, when he withdrew; served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth Congresses; expelled from the Senate in 1861 for support of the rebellion; chairman, Committee on Claims (Thirtieth Congress), Committee on the District of Columbia (Thirty-first Congress), Committee on Foreign Relations (Thirty-second through Thirty-sixth Congresses), Committee on Naval Affairs (Thirty-second Congress); delegate from Virginia to the Provisional Congress of the Confederacy; appointed commissioner of the Confederacy to Great Britain and France and while on his way to his post was taken from the British mail steamer Trent November 8, 1861, and confined in Fort Warren, Boston Harbor; released in January 1862; proceeded to London and represented the Confederacy until its downfall in April 1865; resided in Canada after the close of the war until 1868, when he returned to Virginia; died near the city of Alexandria, Va., April 28, 1871; interment in Christ Church Episcopal Cemetery, Alexandria, Va.

[Valin]

We're forecast to hit near 70 today

So are we...next May. :-)

[snippy_about_it]

Thanks for the history lesson today, good tagline too!

[snippy_about_it]

I like root beer but my favorite drink is Pepsi. In Atlanta, home of Coca-Cola, there wasn't a Pepsi to be found. Some folks say there is no difference, I don't think they have taste buds.

Good morning alfa6.

[snippy_about_it]

LOL. It's me!

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Aeronaut.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning EGC. Enjoy the festivities today. Those poor folks on the parade route are heartier than me. Too cold.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Mayor.

[snippy_about_it]

So are we...next May. :-)

ROTFLOL.

[Professional Engineer]

ROFLMAO at your tagline.

[Professional Engineer]

Goin' my way?

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

Gentlemen,

This may not be the proper place to post this but I shall give it a try. Would any of you happen to know what the standard rifle of the West German Army in 1972-1973 was? I earned a shooting medal from them that I was able to wear on my uniform as long as I was in 7th Army, but have no idea what the weapon was I shot!

Thank you for any help.

[msdrby]

Hi there! Listening to the speech right now.

[SAMWolf]

I believe it was the Gewehr 3 (G3)

[Professional Engineer]

Howdy ma'am

[SAMWolf]

I miss long John Silvers. :-(

[Professional Engineer]

Got it on the radio.

[msdrby]

US Navy SeaChanters.

[Professional Engineer]

Hi miss Feather. Keeping warm today?

[SAMWolf]

1981 Ronald Reagan inaugurated as President

Siiiiigh.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks Valin.

[SAMWolf]

So are we...next May. :-)

LOL!

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

It has, as you can see been a great number of years, but I'm sure (almost) it was a bolt action, and I do not remember a pistol type grip though I'm far less sure about that.

[SAMWolf]

:-)

The cry of the bayonet fighter, "More ammo!!!"

[SAMWolf]

I have no idea what bolt action rifle the Bundeswehr was usin g in the 70's. My guess would be a Mauser for snipers/competition.

[Soaring Feather]

HI PE, keeping warm, yes, I am staying inside.

[Professional Engineer]

Here's a lump in your throat thread.