The FReeper Foxhole Remembers JEB Stuart, Last Stand of the Last Knight(5/7-12/1864)-Aug. 8th, 2005

Civil War Times Magazine | June 2004 | Edward G. Longacre

[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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Major General J.E.B. Stuart:
Last Stand of the Last Knight

Major General J.E.B. Stuart posted his horsemen at Yellow Tavern -- between Union attackers and Richmond -- and waited for the collision. It would come with a deadliness he could never have imagined.

The legendary plumed hat and longish hair and whiskers helped turn J.E.B. Stuart into the dashing cavalier of legend. But there was plenty of substance beneath the style.

Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant's overland campaign had ground to a halt. In two days of bitter but inconclusive fighting in the Virginia wilderness -- that forbidding expanse of second-growth pine and tangled thicket below the Rapidan River -- Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had fought the larger and better-equipped Army of the Potomac to a standstill. The daring and aggressive Lee had foiled his enemy's attempt to slice through the Wilderness and march on to Richmond, the Confederate capital. Aided by the great profusion of natural cover, Lee had parried the thrusts of Major General George Gordon Meade, the Union army's commander, and had blunted the broad strategy imparted to Meade by Grant, who was accompanying the Army of the Potomac in his role as general in chief of all U.S. armies. By the evening of May 7, 1864, the massive Union host sat stalled along the forest's southern rim.

Lee gave much credit for his success to his cavalry, especially its leader, Major General James Ewell Brown Stuart. Throughout the fighting that had just ended, the 31-year-old native of Patrick County, Virginia, had made inspired use of his 9,000 horsemen. As on numerous fields the previous fall, this most celebrated mounted leader of the war took the measure of his 12,000 opponents in the Union cavalry, currently led by a newcomer to the Virginia theater, the diminutive and feisty Major General Philip H. Sheridan. On the first day of fighting in the Wilderness, Stuart's savvy veterans cut off and pummeled Sheridan's advance echelon. On the second day they put heavy pressure on other elements of Sheridan's command, not only slowing their advance and that of the infantrymen in their rear, but also denying Meade critical intelligence on Lee's dispositions. To cap their performance, on May 7 Stuart's riders frustrated Sheridan's attempt to penetrate south of Todd's Tavern and open a way for Grant and Meade to exit the Wilderness in the direction of Spotsylva-nia Court House.



While Lee and Stuart worked closely and cordially in tandem, the same could not be said of Meade and Sheridan. Grant had brought Sheridan from Tennessee to command the Army of the Potomac's cavalry without asking for Meade's consent. Both Meade and Sheridan were highly competent officers, but Meade had a temper as volatile as Sheridan's. The two cooperated well enough during their first 24 hours below the Rapidan, but a clash of wills and temperaments seemed inevitable. By the evening of May 7, it was on the horizon.

The trouble began in earnest on the afternoon of the 6th, when Meade received an erroneous report that Confederate infantry had gotten between Sheridan and the army's infantry, threatening to encircle the cavalry. Against Sheridan's protests, Meade ordered the cavalry to withdraw from Todd's Tavern. The next morning, as Sheridan had foreseen, Grant ordered the cavalry back to spearhead the army's march south to Spotsylvania. By then, however, one of Stuart's divisions, under Major General Fitzhugh Lee, occupied the very works around the tavern that the Federals had just vacated. It took an all-day slugging match to evict the newcomers, saddling Sheridan with a casualty list he blamed on Meade's overreaction to bad news.


Robert E. Lee relied on J.E.B. Stuart for everything from crack reconnaissance to timely raids. He would do the same in early May 1864 in Virginia’s Wilderness, with Stuart matching wits and spirit with Philip Sheridan (top), who had recently taken over cavalry command in the Army of the Potomac, under commander George G. Meade (bottom).



Sheridan's anger and frustration were still simmering when the next provocation came. Late on the 7th, after the fighting had died down, Meade went forward with his staff to inspect his positions below Todd's Tavern. Visiting the bivouacs of two of Sheridan's three divisions, he learned that the commanders -- Brigadier Generals Wesley Merritt and David McMurtrie Gregg -- had received no marching orders for the next morning. Without immediately informing Sheridan, he issued orders of his own. He sent Merritt's men to secure the Brock Road, the most direct route to Spotsylvania from the north, and he directed Gregg to head southwest along the Catharpin Road to guard Corbin's Bridge over the Po River, a logical avenue of enemy pursuit. Meade did not communicate with Sheridan's third division, under Brigadier General James Harrison Wilson, which already had orders to seize Spotsylvania early the next morning and hold it until the infantry arrived.

When Sheridan learned of Meade's intervention, he was incensed. He later claimed he intended for Merritt and Gregg to secure not only Corbin's Bridge, but also two other spans over the meandering Po -- Snell's Bridge and the so-called Block House Bridge, both of which offered the enemy alternate routes to Spotsylvania. Meade's orders placed Merritt's command a mile or more from Block House Bridge and left Snell's completely unguarded.



Because Sheridan never issued orders of his own, it is difficult to validate his claim that he was more farsighted than Meade. As he had proved on previous occasions, he was not averse to bending the truth to win an argument. Hindsight, however, placed Meade's decisions in a bad light. Early on the morning of the 8th, Lieutenant General Richard H. Anderson, temporarily commanding Lee's First Corps, led 12,000 Confederate infantry and artillery along the Shady Grove Church Road, across the Po at Block House Bridge, and into Spotsylvania. Supported by elements of Stuart's cavalry, Anderson drove out Wilson's troopers, who had arrived not much earlier. Although it would take two weeks of fighting to establish the fact beyond doubt, Lee had thwarted Grant's first attempt to pass around his south flank on the road to Richmond.

The events of May 7 were enough to cause a rift between Meade and his cavalry leader, but the breach widened after 3:00 the next morning, when the army's infantry vanguard, the V Corps of Major General G. K. Warren, began its march toward Spotsylvania. At about the same time, Merritt's troopers set out to clear the Brock Road, as Meade had ordered. But, as Lieutenant George B. Sanford of the 1st U.S. Cavalry observed, "We had certainly not advanced a mile and daylight had scarcely broken, when we were again as heavily engaged as on the previous evening. For perhaps an hour or more we managed to make some slight progress, but then by the increasing weight of the fire it became evident that Stuart had been reinforced by the Confederate infantry, and our advance came practically to a standstill." Soon, Warren's infantrymen found their path blocked by Union troopers, horses, and wagons, and it became clear they would not reach Spotsylvania in time to evict Anderson.



Warren, whose temper rivaled Meade's and Sheridan's, complained loudly about the foul-up, which he blamed on the cavalry in his front. Upon hearing the criticism, Sheridan reacted just as angrily. Arriving on the site of the traffic jam about 5:00 a.m., he pulled Merritt's men off the road, cursing Meade's interference.

When the V Corps at last went forward around 6:00, some of Warren's subordinates unleashed invective of their own. Brigadier General John C. Robinson, the bushy-whiskered commander of Warren's advance division, was heard to shout, "Oh, get your double damned cavalry out of the way, there is nothing ahead but a little cavalry, we will soon clear them out!" One cavalryman who overheard this outburst thought to himself, "Old man, you will find something more than a little cavalry on ahead; but on he went and in less than fifteen minutes afterwards I saw them carry my General Robinson back on a stretcher with a leg shot off."


Sheridan at Yellow Tavern

Shortly before noon, as the V Corps continued to make glacial progress against Fitz Lee and Anderson, Sheridan caught up with Meade. Then erupted one of the loudest, bitterest shouting matches ever overheard by the Army of the Potomac headquarters staff. Meade echoed Warren's criticism that the cavalry should have cleared the Brock Road long before the infantry reached it. Sheridan retorted that Meade's unwarranted meddling in the cavalry's operations had caused the foul-up. As Sheridan admitted, "One word brought on another, until, finally, I told him that I could whip Stuart if he [Meade] would only let me, but since he insisted on giving the cavalry directions without consulting or even notifying me, he could henceforth command the Cavalry Corps himself -- that I would not give it another order." Sheridan stalked off in a huff.

Such flagrant insubordination could not go unpunished. Meade went directly to Grant's headquarters, where he recounted the episode, epithet for epithet. No doubt he expected Grant to take his side in the quarrel, so he must have been shocked when Grant appeared to act otherwise. But when he related Sheridan's boast that he could defeat Stuart if given a free hand, Grant is said to have replied, "Did he say so? Then let him go out and do it."


Major General Fitzhugh Lee

Meade must have been shocked. Instead of disciplining Sheridan, he was forced to send him on the mission of his dreams. By 1:00 p.m. that day, he had written an order directing Sheridan to concentrate his command, stockpile three days' rations and an appropriate amount of forage, cut loose from the army, detour eastward around Spotsylvania, and head for Haxall's Landing. At that supply base, 50-some miles to the south, Sheridan was to link with Major General Benjamin F. Butler's Army of the James, which was operating directly against Richmond. There, the cavalry would refit prior to rejoining its own command. The operation, which the enemy undoubtedly would interpret as a raid on Richmond, was principally an effort to draw Stuart's men into the open for a finish fight.

[GailA]

Good morning ALL

[The Mayor]

August 8, 2005

What We Cannot Lose

Read:
Psalm 92:12-15

Even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you. —Isaiah 46:4

Bible In One Year: Jeremiah 9-12

Years ago I heard about an elderly gentleman who was suffering from the first stages of dementia. He lamented the fact that he often forgot about God. "Don't you worry," said a good friend, "He will never forget you."

Growing old is perhaps the hardest task we have to face in this life. As the saying goes, "Getting old is not for sissies."

Mainly, growing old is about losses. We devote most of our early life to acquiring things, but they are merely things we will lose as we age. We lose our strength, our looks, our friends, our job. We may lose our wealth, our home, our health, our spouse, our independence, and perhaps the greatest loss of all, our sense of dignity and self-worth.

But there is one thing that you and I will never lose—the love of God. "Even to your old age, I am He," God said to the prophet, "and even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you" (Isaiah 46:4).

"The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree," wrote the songwriter (Psalm 92:12). "Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age" (vv.13-14). —David Roper

Jesus loves me, this I know,
Though my hair is white as snow;
Though my sight is growing dim,
Still He bids me trust in Him. —Warner

God's love never grows old.

FOR FURTHER STUDY
Finishing Well
How Has God Loved Us?

[Professional Engineer]

Good morning ladies. Flag-o-space boats-o-Gram.

PHOTO CREDIT: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. – Kennedy Space Center employees on the solid rocket booster recovery ship Freedom Star acknowledge photographers awaiting their arrival at Port Canaveral. The ship, with a spent solid rocket booster (SRB) from the STS-114 launch on July 26 in tow, is headed for Hangar AF on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The SRBs are the largest solid propellant motors ever flown and the first designed for reuse. After a Shuttle is launched, the SRBs are jettisoned at two minutes, seven seconds into the flight. At six minutes and 44 seconds after liftoff, the spent SRBs, weighing about 165,000 lb., have slowed their descent speed to about 62 mph and splashdown takes place in a predetermined area. They are retrieved from the Atlantic Ocean by special recovery vessels and returned for refurbishment and eventual reuse on future Shuttle flights. Once at Hangar AF, the SRBs are unloaded onto a hoisting slip and mobile gantry cranes lift them onto tracked dollies where they are safed and undergo their first washing.

[PzLdr]

Stuart was a complex, but flawed hero. Concededly a master of "riding around" the Union Army, and a superb gatherer of intelligence, Stuart's success in the early war years was due, in no small part, to the superiority of Southern horsemanship, and the critical fact that the command of the Army of the Potomac had no coherent operational or organizational plan for their cavalry. Union Cavalry was wasted on picket and courier duties. It wasn't until Hooker that the Cavalry was finally concentrated in a Corps of its own.

Strata's high point, IMHO, was his conduct, as Jackson's replacement at Chancellorsville, where he commanded both the Cavalry, and Jackson's Corps after Jackson fell. Apparently Stuart hoped to be promoted to LT. GEN., and permanently assume command of II Corps. It went to Ewell instead.

By 1863, however, two things became noticeable. First, Stuart had a large ego. And second, he engaged in more flamboyant raids to satisfy that ego [Since, as noted in the main article, his horses were becoming increasingly fragile, and hard to replace, which in Confederate Calvary required leave for the trooper to get his own horse}. After the Battle of Brandy Station, Stuart was primed to try and redeem his reputation, and Lee's ambiguous orders to him for the Gettysburg campaign provided the excuse [although in fairness to Stuart, he left Lee adequate cavalry for screening. The problem was he didn't leave Lee Stuart, and the Brigadiers he did leave weren't easy to work with]. The results are well known.

Post Gettysburg, Stuart continued to function as Lee's eyes and ears, but not quite as effectively, since the rejuvenated Union Cavalry pushed him hard, and he was now required to respond to their actions, instead of they to his.And there is no better example of that than Yellow Tavern. Stuart was forced to go to battle at a tempo forced on him by Sheridan, whose choice of route, and march speed, allowed Stuart to get ahead of him only by proceeding at a killing pace, with a partial force. Sheridan's men and horses were well rested when they engaged. Stuart's were not. And Stuart payed with his life.

While I think Stuart was a great light cavalryman, I don't see him as the Civil War's greatest. On the Confederate side, I would have to choose Forrest, who could raid as well as Stuart, and win battles as well. On the Union side, Sheridan was superior, and I would also give the edge to Wilson. Both could, and did, do everything Stuart did and more. They won campaigns.

Concededly, except at Chancellorsville, Stuart never had the chance to command combined arms, as Sheridan did. But Lee never gave him that chance. And Lee, out of all his Corps commanders, never promoted Stuart to the rank of Lieutenant General, despite his length of service commanding the Cavalry Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia.

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on August 08:
1763 Charles Bulfinch Boston Mass, 1st US pro architect (Mass State House)
1857 Henry Osborn Conn, paleontologist/author (52 Years of Research)
1879 Emiliano Zapata Mexican revolutionary, peasant leader
1884 Sara Teasdale US, poet (1st Pulitzer Prize-1918-"Love Songs")
1887 Malcolm Keen Bristol England, actor (Uncle Chris-Mama)
1896 Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Wash DC, writer (The Yearling)
1900 Victor Young Chic Ill, orch leader (Milton Berle Show, In Old Calif)
1901 Dr Ernest O Lawrence Canton SC, inventor (Cyclotron-Nobel 1939)
1902 Paul A.M. Dirac England, theoretical physicist (Nobel 1933)
1907 Benny Carter NYC, musician/composer (Easy Money, King Carter)
1908 Arthur J Goldberg Ill, UN ambassador/Supreme Court justice (1962-65)
1910 Francisco Brochado Da Rocha PM of Brazil (1962)
1910 Sylvia Sidney Bronx NY, actress (WKRP, Sabotage, Beetlejuice)
1913 Axel Stordahl Staten Island NY, orch leader (Frank Sinatra Show)
1918 Rory Calhoun LA Calif, actor (Capitol, Motel Hell, Bill-Texan)
1919 Dino DeLaurentis producer (King Kong)
1922 Rudi Gernreich designed 1st women's topless swimsuit, miniskirt
1923 Esther Williams Inglewood Cal, actress/swimmer (Dangerous when Wet)
1926 Richard Anderson Long Beach NJ, actor (Oscar Goldman-6 Million $ Man)
1926 Webb Pierce West Monroe La, country singer (Ozark Jubilee)
1929 Josef Suk Prague Czechoslovakia, violinist (Artist of Merit-1977)
1930 Andy Warhol artist/movie producer (Frankenstein, Bad)
1930 Joan Mondale wife of former VP Walter F Mondale
1930 Nita Talbot NYC NY, actress (Supertrain, Here We Go Again)
1932 Mel Tillis country singer (Stateside) /songwriter (Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town)
1933 Joe Tex singer/songwriter (Hold What You've Got)
1936 Don Bowden US, 1st American to run a sub 4 min mile
1936 Frank Howard baseball player (NL Rookie of the Year 1960)
1936 Keith Barron Mexborough England, actor (At the Earth's Core)
1937 Dustin Hoffman LA, actor (The Graduate, Tootsie, Rainman, Ishtar)
1938 Connie Stevens Bkln, singer/actress (Hawaiian Eye, Back to Beach)
1939 Phil Balsley Va, country singer (Statler Bros-Flowers on the Wall)
1947 Jose Cruz leftfielder (St Louis Cards, Houston Astros)
1947 Larry Wilcox SD Calif, actor (Lassie, CHiPs)
1948 Svetlana Y Savitskaya 2nd woman in space (Soyuz T-7, T-12)
1949 Keith Carradine San Mateo Calif, actor (Young Guns, Pretty Baby)
1953 "Sweet" Lou Dunbar basketball player (Harlem Globetrotters)
1953 Donny Most Bkln NY, actor (Ralph Malph-Happy Days)
1954 Nigel Mansell formula-1 racer (Portugal Grand Prix-1990)
1958 Deborah Norville TV host (Today)
1958 Harry Crosby LA Calif, actor (Friday the 13th)
1959 Rikki Rockett rocker (Poison-Every Rose Has a Thorn)
1962 Suzee Pai Toledo Ohio, actress (Big Trouble in Little China)
1967 Lorraine Pearson rocker (5 Star-Silk & Steel)
1988 Beatrice Princess of England

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Deaths which occurred on August 08:
1471 Thomas a Kempis, [Thomas Hammerken von Kempen], writer/monk,
1960 Danton Walker columnist (Broadway Spotlight), dies at 61
1961 Charlie Gemora actor who portrayed King Kong, dies at 58
1976 John Roselli hired by CIA to kill Castro, found murdered
1984 Richard Deacon actor (Mel-Dick Van Dyke Show), dies at 62
1985 Louise Brooks actress, dies of a heart attack at 78
1991 James B Irwin, Col USAF/astronaut (Apollo 15, pilot of the Lunar Roving Vehicle), dies at 61
1996 Frank A Whittle, inventor of the Jet engine, dies at 89
2001 Maureen Reagan (b.1941), daughter of former Pres. Ronald Reagan, died of malignant melanoma
2004 Fay Wray (b.1907)), film actress, died. (King Kong.)

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Take A Moment To Remember
GWOT Casualties

Iraq
08-Aug-2003 2 | US: 2 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Private 1st Class Brandon Ramsey Tall Afar - Ninawa Hostile - vehicle accident
US Private Matthew D. Bush Camp Caldwell - Diyala Non-hostile - illness - heat related?

08-Aug-2004 2 | US: 2 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Civilian Rick A. Ulbright Kirkuk Air Base - At Ta'mim Hostile - hostile fire - mortar attack
US Lance Corporal Jonathan W. Collins Al Anbar Province Hostile - hostile fire


Afghanistan
A GOOD DAY


http://icasualties.org/oif/
Data research by Pat Kneisler
Designed and maintained by Michael White
//////////
Go here and I'll stop nagging.
http://www.taps.org/
(subtle hint SEND MONEY)

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On this day...
0070 Tower of Antonia (Jerusalem) was destroyed by the Romans
1306 King Wenceslas of Poland is murdered.
1579 Cornerstone is laid for Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg observatory
1585 Pope Sixtus excommunicates Henri IV
1609 Venetian senate examines Galileo Galilei's telescope ("YUP! That's a telescope.")
1648 Ibrahim, the sultan of Istanbul, is thrown into prison, then assassinated.
1709 1st known ascent in hot-air balloon, Bartolomeu de Gusmao (indoors)
1776 John Paul Jones commissioned as a captain and appointed to command the Alfred
1796 Boston African Society establishes with 44 members
1814 Peace negotiations begin in Ghent, Belgium
1815 Napoleon Bonaparte set sail for exile on St Helena
1843 Natal (in South Africa) is made a British colony
1844 Brigham Young chosen Mormon Church head following Joseph Smith death
1854 Smith & Wesson patents metal bullet cartridges
1860 Queen of Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) arrives in NYC
1861 William Bateson, originator of term "genetics"
1862 Minnesota’s 5th Infantry fought the Sioux Indians in Redwood, Minn
1864 Red Cross Anniversary
1868 Quake destroys Arica Chile
1876 Dan O'Leacy completes 500 mile walk in 139h32m
1876 Thomas Edison patents mimeograph
1882 Snow falls on Lake Michigan (more proof of global warming)
1890 Daughters of the American Revolution organizes
1900 1st Davis Cup tennis matches, held in Boston


1918 6 US soldiers are surrounded by Germans in France, Alvin York is given command & shoots 20 Germans & captures 132 more


1919 Treaty of Rawalpindi, British recognize Afghanistan's independence
1920 Tigers beat Yanks 1-0 in shortest AL game, 73 minutes
1922 Pirates set record of 46 hits in a doubleheader (against Phillies)
1925 1st national march of Ku Klux Klan (200 000) in Washington DC
1929 German airship Graf Zeppelin begins a round-the-world flight
1929 Salem Oregon airport dedicated
1930 St Louis Cards are 12 games back in NL, & go on to win the pennant
1931 Wash Senator Bob Burke no-hits Boston Red Sox, 5-0
1937 Bonneville Dam on Columbia River begins producing power

1940 Battle of Britain began as Germany launches air attacks

1942 U.S. Marines capture Japanese airstrip on Guadalcanal.
1942 6 convicted Nazi saboteurs who landed in US executed in Wash DC
1945 Pres Harry S Truman signs UN Charter
1945 USSR declares war against Japan in WW II
1945 USSR establishes a communist government in North Korea
1949 Bhutan, land of the Dragon, became an independent monarchy
1950 Naktong Bulge begins. 10 day attempt to overrun US/ROK forces
1953 US & South Korea initial a mutual security pact
1955 Geneva conference held to discuss peaceful uses of atomic energy
1956 Fire & explosion kill 263 miners at Marcinelle, Belgium
1960 Ivory Coast declares independence
1960 Pop song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini" hits #1.
1963 Great Train Robbery in England, $2.6 million ($7.3 million)
1963 Kingsmen release "Louie, Louie," radio stations label it obscene
1966 Beatles' release "Revolver"
1966 South Arican Broadcasting bans Beatles (Lennon's anti-Jesus remark)
1968 Race riot in Miami Florida
1969 Actress Sharon Tate (26) and four other people were brutally murdered in her Beverly Hills home; cult leader Charles Manson and a group of his disciples were later convicted of the crime.
1970 NY Yankees honor Casey Stengel, retiring his number 37
1972 NY Yankees sign 30 year lease with NYC
1973 VP Spiro T Agnew branded as "damned lies" reports he took kickbacks from govt contracts in Maryland. He vowed not to resign (Right!)

1974 Pres Richard M Nixon announced he'd resign his office 12PM 08/09

1977 Texas Rangers turn their 1st triple play (vs A's)
1978 Pioneer-Venus 2 with 5 atmospheric probes launched toward Venus
1979 Iraqi president Saddam Hussein executes 22 political opponents. More to follow...many many more.
1983 Brig Gen Efrain Rios Montt deposed as president of Guatemela
1983 Jury in KC, Mo, awards TV anchorwoman Christine Craft $500,000 in sex discrimination suit against KMBC-TV (later overturned)
1984 Carl Lewis wins 3rd (200m) of 4 gold medals in the Summer Olympics
1985 Japan launches Planet A, a probe to Halley's comet
1986 Record 3 grandslams in a game-(Harrah-Tex, Sheets & Dwyer-Orioles)
1987 Brewers' Rob Deer struck-out 5 times in a game
1987 Lynne Cox became 1st to swim from US to Russia across Bering Strait
1988 Chicago Cubs starts 1st home game under lights (rained-out)
1988 Discovery of most distant galaxy (15 * 10 ^ 12 light yrs) announced
1988 Duchess of York gives birth to 6 lb 12 oz baby girl
1988 Goose Gossage registers career save #300
1988 Jennifer Levin's parents file $25M suit against Dorrian Red Hand Bar
1988 Minn Twins pull 2nd triple-play of year & beat Cleve 6-2
1988 Renovated Central Park Zoo reopens after 4 years

1988 Russian troops begin pull out of Afghanistan after 9 year war

1988 Sec of State Shultz narrowly escapes assassin attempt in Bolivia
1988 South Africa declares cease-fire in Angola
1988 Temperature hits high of 88 on 8/8/88 in NYC
1989 US space shuttle STS-28 launched
1990 Balt Orioles pull their 10th triple play (1-6-3 vs Oakland)
1990 Carlton Fisk ties Johnny Bench hitting 327 HRs as a catcher
1991 Billy Preston charged with exhibiting porno to a minor
1991 Carlos Santana pleads no contest to marijuana possession charge
1991 Gary Oldman, actor (State of Grace), arrested for drunk driving
1991 Shite Muslims release British hostage John McCarthy
1997 Oil For Food plan starts The UN Security Council allows resumption of limited oil sales by Iraq The UN plan allows the sale of $2 billion in crude oil every 6 months.
2003 George Soros pledges $10 million to a political action committee called America Coming Together to defeat George Bush in 2004 (Better luck next time Georgie boy.)
2003 Mahmud Dhiyab Al-Ahmad, Saddam Hussein's former interior minister, (No. 29 on the list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis) surrenders to coalition forces.

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

Afghanistan : Independence Day (1919)
Ivory Coast : Independence Day (1960)
Nepal : Tij Day- Woman's holiday
Italy : Palio Del Golfo (2nd Sunday)
Zambia : Youth Day
USA : National Admit You're Happy Day
National Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day
National Catfish Month

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Religious Observances
RC : Commemoration of SS Cyriacus, Largus, Smaragdus, martyrs
Ang, RC : Memorial of St Dominic, priest/friar

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Religious History
1471 Death of Thomas Kempis, 91, Dutch mystic and devotional author. Though most of his years were outwardly uneventful, his book "The Imitation of Christ" remains in print today, a guide to cultivating the inner human spirit.
1518 German reformer Martin Luther wrote in a letter: 'The Lord will provide with the trial a way out.'
1845 Birth of Thomas Koschat, Austrian sacred composer. One of his scores became the hymn tune POLAND, to which is commonly sung "The King of Love My Shepherd Is."
1852 The roots of the Baptist General Conference were planted when Swedish immigrant pastor Gustaf Palmquist baptized his first three converts in the Mississippi River at Rock Island, Illinois. Today, the denomination numbers about 140,000.
1910 The Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments in the Vatican issued the decree "Quam singulari," which recommended that children be permitted to receive Holy Communion as soon as they reached the "age of discretion" (i.e., about age 7).

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

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Kansas Highway Crews Make 'Mammoth' Discovery
Archaeologists To Verify Tusk's Age, Origins

WICHITA, Kan. -- Highway workers in Kansas have dug up what could be a prehistoric tusk from a woolly mammoth.
They were digging about 17 feet under an old highway Friday when they found what appears to be a huge tusk.

A supervisor said they stopped digging with machinery immediately when they struck what appeared to be bone, and uncovered the rest by hand.

The highway department has called in archaeologists to help uncover the rest of the tusk and verify its age and origin.
The department said site is being protected until crews are called in to dig up the tusk.

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Thought for the day :
"Love flies, runs, and rejoices; it is free and nothing can hold it back."
Thomas a Kempis

[E.G.C.]

Folks, Im'm about to post some comments on a news item. Be sure to click on my screename and then "In Forum" to read those comments.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

Hi kids! I wanted to stop by and say hello and thanks to all of our military veterans out there. I realize y'all are discussing the Civil War today- but I wanted to remind people about one of my favorite revolutionary war heroes: Henry Knox. I just finished reading 1776 and I was reminded,in the book, of his contributions to our freedom. The story of his cannons have always inspired me.

Here is a good general link:

General Knox museum

I hope everyone has a bright day!

[Valin]

The problem with a monarchy is it's based on the ridiculous notion that because your grandfather was a good ruler you'll be one.

"Democracy is the worst form of government, except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time".
Winston Churchill

[SAMWolf]

JEB Stuart bids farewell to his wife, Flora, in Dundee Plantation house, near Hanover Courthouse, Virginia.

Been guilty of reading things before I had my coffee myself. ;-)

[alfa6]

Monday Morning Bump for the denizens of the Freeper Foxhole

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone.

[w_over_w]

MORNING GLORY FOLKS!

[w_over_w]

"He never brought me a piece of false information."
~Gen. Robert E. Lee~

"Whatever he lacked in comparative strength - even at the outset of the raid, before his underfed, short-winded horses started breaking down from the strain of the chase - there was at least no diminution of his accustomed vigilance and vigor."
~Shelby Foote~

Outstanding thread today, I've always been moved by the deep affection Lee held for Stuart. The follow up commentary by "the usual suspects" is both informative and enlightening.

[Hi sweets! No not you Sam.]

[w_over_w]

Ooops! Forgot the biggest "suspect" of all! ;^)

[colorado tanker]

Thanks for your as usual insightful and well-informed comments.

[colorado tanker]

Hey, Sam and Snip. Thanks for another terrific thread.

This just elevates my already high opinion of Gen. Grant. If I had to choose between Meade and Sheridan, I'd choose Little Phil too.

[Iris7]

I used to believe the same thing. The faith started to fade from real experience, which provoked reading, which helped understanding. It is a hard faith to give up, faith in the "people". Especially when it is as fashionable as it is now.

Some of the Founders thought the spirit of democracy the greatest threat to the Republic. And then there was Jefferson. (!!!) Of course, Jefferson liked the French Revolution.

I'll go with the "Hamilton was correct" school.

Somedays I will go farther than that, and say that Liberty and Democracy are antithetical.

[stainlessbanner]

bttt

[w_over_w]

Somedays I will go farther than that, and say that Liberty and Democracy are antithetical.

Given the ilk (I don't want to type their names) that uses these terms interchangeably there is no question they are antithetical. When I hear certain liberals (another meaningless word) speak about "taking back America", the dilemma then becomes how do they take back something they hate?

[snippy_about_it]

OBSEQUIES OF STUART
(May 12, 1864)
By John Reuben Thompson
(1823-1873)

We could not pause, while yet the noontide air
Shook with the cannonade's incessant pealing,
The funeral pageant fitly to prepare--
A nation's great revealing.

The smoke, above the glimmering woodland wide
That skirts our southward border in its beauty,
Marked where our heroes stood and fought and died
For love and faith and duty.

And still, what time the doubtful strife went on,
We might not find expression for our sorrow;
We could but lay our dear dumb warrior down
And gird us for the morrow.

One weary year agone, when came a lull
With victory in the conflict's stormy closes.
When the glad Spring, all flushed and beautiful,
First mocked us with her roses,

With dirge and bell and minute-gun, we paid
Some few poor rites--an inexpressive token
Of a great people's pain--to Jackson's shade,
In agony unspoken.

No wailing trumpet and no tolling bell,
No cannon, save the battle's boom receding,
When Stuart to the grave we bore, might tell,
With hearts all crushed and bleeding.

The crisis suited not with pomp, and she
Whose anguish bears the seal of consecration
Had wished his Christian obsequies should be
Thus void of ostentation.

Only the maidens came, sweet flowers to twine
Above his form so still and cold and painless,
Whose deeds upon our brightest records shine,
Whose life and sword were stainless.

They well remembered how he loved to dash
Into the fight, festooned from summer bowers;
How like a fountain's spray his sabre's flash
Leaped from a mass of flowers.

And so we carried to his place of rest
All that of our great Paladin was mortal:
The cross, amd not the sabre, on his breast,
That opes the heavenly portal.

No more of tribute might to us remain:
But there will still come a time when Freedom's martyrs
A richer guerdon of reknown shall gain
Than gleams in stars and garters.

I hear from out that sunlit land which lies
Beyond these clouds that gather darkly o'er us,
The happy sounds of industry arise
In swelling peaceful chorus.

And mingling with these sounds, the glad acclaim
Of millions undisturbed by war's afflictions,
Crowning each martyr's never-dying name
With grateful benedictions.

In some fair future garden of delights,
Where flowers shall bloom and song-birds sweetly warble,
Art shall erect the statues of our knights
In living bronze and marble.

And none of all that bright heroic throng
Shall wear to far-off time a semblance grander,
Shall still be decked with fresher wreaths of song,
Than this beloved commander.

The Spanish legend tells us of the Cid,
That after death he rode, erect, desately,
Along his lines, even as in life he did,
In presence yet more stately;

And thus our Stuart, at this moment, seems
To ride out of our dark and troubled story
Into the region of romace and dreams,
A realm of light and glory;

And sometimes, when the silver bugles blow,
That ghostly form, in battle reappearing,
Shall lead his horsemen headlong on the foe,
In victory careering!