The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Forts Henry and Donelson (Feb-1862) - April, 3rd, 200

http://www.electricscotland.com/history/america/civilwar/cw28.htm ^

[SAMWolf]

Dear Lord,

There's a young man far from home,
called to serve his nation in time of war;
sent to defend our freedom
on some distant foreign shore.

We pray You keep him safe,
we pray You keep him strong,
we pray You send him safely home ...
for he's been away so long.

There's a young woman far from home,
serving her nation with pride.
Her step is strong, her step is sure,
there is courage in every stride.
We pray You keep her safe,
we pray You keep her strong,
we pray You send her safely home ...
for she's been away too long.

Bless those who await their safe return.
Bless those who mourn the lost.
Bless those who serve this country well,
no matter what the cost.

Author Unknown

.

FReepers from the USO Canteen, The Foxhole, and The Poetry Branch
join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time.

.

.................................................................................................................................

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Forts Henry & Donelson

The fall of Forts Henry & Donelson in February 1862 launched U.S. Grant's Mississippi campaign culminating in the capture of Vicksburg. The forts were located near Dover, TN in what is now called "The Land Between the Lakes" -- which was actually the land between the rivers -- about an hour's drive northwest of Nashville.

The 536-acre national battlefield includes the visitor center, the Dover Hotel (Surrender House), and Fort Donelson with associated earthen rifle pits and river cannon batteries. Approximately 20% of the core battlefield is within the park. There is also Fort Donelson National Cemetery (established in 1867).

The town of Dover itself is actually a part of the battlefield, e.g., the fortified lines extended into town, and the surrender was signed at the hotel.

In looking at the pre-battle chatter, it seems that no one really understood the importance of Forts Henry & Donelson. The beloved Albert Sidney Johnston had a 500-mile front to defend -- from Island No. 10 north of Memphis to the Cumberland Gap. For him, everything was strategic since any loss would open up an invasion route.

On the Union side, the Henry & Donelson issue was more happenstance than anything else. Lew Wallace writes post-war that the origins of the idea are obscure, but we are sure that Grant pushed the plan on his boss Halleck. However, Grant was more interested in alleviating his boredom than any brilliant strategic move. Halleck was the true bureaucrat: avoid blame no matter what. He put off Grant until it looked like he would be upstaged by Buell after Mill Springs.

What they all missed were the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers. Losing the Cumberland Gap left a Union army to forage in Eastern Tennessee. After Island No. 10 were Memphis and Vicksburg -- major defensive points. When Henry & Donelson fell the next stop was Muscle Shoals, Alabama.



To illustrate, note that after Grant passed Henry & Donelson his next fight was at Pittsburg Landing just north of Corinth, MS. Nashville and Clarksville, with its important ironworks, were exposed to Foote's gunboats and quickly surrendered. Memphis and Vicksburg now had to look to an attack from the east as well at upriver. It was an accidentally brilliant strategic move, devastating to the Confederacy.

Fort Henry fell quickly to the gunboats, so the main battle interest is at Fort Donelson. The winter march was something of a novelty in 1862. It shows how the military thinking was stuck in the Napoleonic Era when the wet weather would foul the gunpowder used to prime the pan.

Fort Henry was clearly untenable, in a low area on the east side of the Tennessee. A. S. Johnston had repeatedly ordered that the high ground on the west side of the River be fortified. There was a Fort Heiman already in place on the west side, but it was in "neutral" Kentucky. No other action was taken. By February 1862, Fort Henry was partially inundated and the river threatened to flood the rest. It was a typical earthen fort with outdated guns and a smallish garrison.

On February 4-5, Grant landed his divisions after reconnoitering at two locations, one on the east bank of the Tennessee River to prevent the garrison’s escape and the other to occupy the high ground on the west side which would insure the fort’s fall. The only tactical obstacle on the east side was a small stream, but to land the forces any closer would have put them in gun range from the fort. Flag-Officer Andrew H. Foote’s seven gunboats closed within 400 yards and began bombarding the fort.



Lloyd Tilghman, commander of the fort’s garrison, realized that it was only a matter of time before Fort Henry fell. While leaving artillery in the fort to hold off the Union fleet, he escorted the rest of his force out of the area and sent them safely off on the route to Fort Donelson, 10 miles east. Tilghman then returned to the fort and surrendered to the fleet. Fort Henry’s also let Grant send the gunboats upriver to destroy some critical railroad bridges.

From February 6 to 16, the missing man in the equation was Albert Sidney Johnston, Confederate commander in the west. On February 7, the day after Fort Henry fell, he held a staff meeting at his headquarters in Bowling Green where he decided to split his forces, sending 12,000 reinforcements to Fort Donelson and falling back from Bowling Green to Nashville with the remainder.

The strategic issue here was to prevent Grant and Buell's army in Kentucky from uniting. Grant was the weaker of the two forces, and his supply line from Fort Henry traveled back 150 miles to Halleck's command in St. Louis. An immediate attack against Grant would also have the advantage of the Fort Donelson garrison. From February 6th to the 16th, Grant was stuck in the mud.



Johnston was able to quickly assemble troops for an attack at Shiloh, but for some reason he was unwilling to react to the loss of Henry. Even then, it seems that no one really understood just how far the rivers reached.

Fort Donelson

After capturing Fort Henry on February 6, Grant advanced cross-country to invest Fort Donelson. He was opposed by Confederate commander John Floyd, who made no attempt to oppose Grant's advance. By February 14 Grant had a loose half-circle around the fort.

On February 14 Foote's gunboats tried another bombardment. However, the guns at Donelson were newer and better sited, and Foote took serious loses and retreated downriver. The Union ground forces tested the earthworks, which had been thrown up mostly after the fall of Henry.

Floyd determined to break out, and his attack on February 15 actually opened up a corridor. Grant launched an inconclusive counterattack which so unnerved Floyd that he ordered the troops back into the fort and started making plans to surrender. Nathan Bedford Forrest said that he didn't join the Confederacy to surrender his command and took his cavalry out across the Cumberland River.



Johnston had designated the forts as "strategic." Even in Confederate parlance, this meant something more vigorous than a quick surrender. The fall of the two forts and the loss of 13,000 Southern troops was a major victory for Grant and a catastrophe for the South. Shortly afterwards Johnston abandoned Nashville, which was ostensibly the reason why he hadn't attacked Grant in the first place.

The loss ensured that Kentucky would stay in the Union and opened up Tennessee for an advance along the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. Along with the fall of New Orleans it also demonstrated that the idea of and "independent nation" was a sham. The Union army could now go wherever it wanted.

Surrender of Fort Donelson

Confederate scouts searched for avenues of escape that night. Army doctors counseled that the men could not survive crossing frozen creeks and the long trek to Nashville. Buckner became gripped by battle fatigue and fears of Smith's division. Pillow urged continued resistance, Floyd vacillated. Time was wasted and in a midnight council that has since been defined understanding, a decision was made to surrender to Grant on the morrow. Forrest stalked angrily into the night, vowing to escape. Floyd and Pillow, fearing punishment at the hands of Union authorities, similarly deserted, passing command to Buckner. Floyd's three thousand man Virginia brigade, Pillows personal staff and uncounted hundreds of others evaded the Union dragnet over the days after the surrender. But when Buckner sent a flag of truce to his opponent that night, the Confederate fighting men became enraged and nearly mutinied at this betrayal by their leaders.

Eventually, Buckner met with his old army friend, Grant in the hamlet of Dover, within Confederate lines. Grant demanded unconditional surrender and Buckner, though aghast at such treatment from an old colleague was powerless to refuse. Grant telegraphed Halleck later that day. "We have taken Fort Donelson and from 12,000 to 15,000 prisoners including Generals Buckner and Bushrod Johnson, also about 20,000 stands of arms, 48 pieces of artillery, 17 heavy guns, from 2,000 to 4,000 horses and large quantities of commissary stores."



When this news reached Johnston at Nashville, he was shocked, since all previous news from the fort indicated victory. Nashvillians rioted and fled the city in droves with Buell's army eventually occupying the capital on February 24. Johnston could provide no defense. Aided by Floyd, Pillow and Forrest, his forces evacuated as much Confederate property as possible but his retreat did not stop short of Northern Alabama and Mississippi. Union forces stood poised to end the rebellion all over the upper South. But, as fatigued and battered in victory as the Confederates were in defeat, Grant's men could not move quickly. Moreover, their generals fell to bickering and momentum slipped from their grasp. Johnston was able to regroup to fight another day.

Still, a Confederate field force was swept into Northern prison camps. Western and much of middle Tennessee as well as all of Kentucky were reclaimed for the Union. Hopes of early European recognition of the Confederacy were dashed. Johnston's reputation as the South's greatest warrior was destroyed.

The fall of Forts Henry and Donelson changed the war in the West overnight. Flagging spirits in the North were revived, and a deep wedge was driven into the South.

The Southern home front began its wavering trend toward eventual collapse in a war of attrition.

[SAMWolf]

Battle of Fort Henry
February 6, 1862

On January 30, 1862, Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at last received the reluctant permission of Gen. Henry W. Halleck to attempt to capture Fort Henry, a Confederate earthwork fort on the Tennessee River just south of Kentucky that was one of a string of outposts built to protect Confederate territory. Grant was to be assisted by Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote's flotilla of seven gunboats in this first attempt to penetrate the western Confederacy by using the major rivers as lines of operations.

Confederate Gen. Lloyd Tilghman, commander of the 3,400 Rebel troops at Fort Henry, knew his post was indefensible. Located on low ground on the edge of the river, Fort Henry was subject to flooding and was dominated by high ground on both sides of the river. Tilghman was determined not to give up his position without a fight, but he wisely decided not to sacrifice his men in the effort. Holding back 100 artillerymen, he sent the rest of the garrison to Fort Donelson, 10 miles away on the Cumberland River. With 11 of the fort's 17 guns placed where they commanded a three mile stretch of the main channel, Tilghman and his brave gunners gamely defended their post.

At 12:00 noon on February 6, while Grant's infantry was still approaching the fort overland, Foote's powerful flotilla steamed upriver, firing rapidly into the open fort. The courageous defenders returned the fire when the approaching gunboats were still a mile distant, but the Rebels were severly outgunned, and the Union fire knocked one Rebel cannon after another out of action. After two hours of furious cannon fire, and with only four cannon still operating, Tilghman had done all that honor demanded; he struck the flag and surrendered the fort to Foote. The Confederates had suffered 5 killed and 11 wounded; the Union sailors lost 11 killed and 31 wounded. Grant and his army, much to the navy's delight, did not arrive on the scene until after the fort had surrendered.

[SAMWolf]

Battle of Fort Donelson
February 13 - 16, 1862

"I am going over to attack Fort Donelson tomorrow," Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant told a newspaper reporter. "Do you know how strong it is?" the reporter asked. "Not exactly," Grant replied, "but I think we can take it. At all events, we can try."

It was this almost casual attitude of Grant's that caused his commander in St. Louis, Gen. Henry W. Halleck, to consider him rash and careless. President Abraham Lincoln, on the other hand, considered Grant's willingness to engage in battle a rare trait not shared by enough of his generals. Lincoln would tell Grant detractors, "I can't spare this man; he fights."



Fort Henry, on the Tennessee River had fallen to Union forces on February 6, 1862, but not before most of the Rebel garrison had retreated to the much stronger Fort Donelson, 12 miles away on the Cumberland River. Even though Halleck advised restraint, on February 11 Grant began the advance overland from Fort Henry to Fort Donelson. The four ironclad gunboats, commanded by Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote, that had battered Fort Henry into submission again steamed down the Tennessee to the Ohio River and then up the Cumberland River toward Fort Donelson.

By the afternoon of February 12, Grant's 15,000-man force had arrived at Fort Donelson, formed its lines in a semicircle around the fort, and had begun waiting for the gunboats. The next day, 12,000 federal reinforcements bolstered Grant's forces, and the first of the gunboats arrived and began bombarding the fort. The rest of Foote's flotilla arrived the next morning and at midafternoon steamed toward Donelson with their cannon firing continuously. But Fort Donelson was much more formidable than Fort Henry had been, and the gunboats took a terrible punishment from the fort's guns. The Rebels had placed their cannon on high ground and the plunging fire had soon disabled two of the ironclads and wounded Foote. Recognizing defeat, Foote ordered his gunboats to withdraw.



Grant was in a bind. It suddenly looked like he faced a long siege, since the navy couldn’t win it for him. Worse, he had a green army and he didn’t think he could storm the Fort. Finally, the weather was dreadful, wet formerly and not frosty as well, and the army didn’t have tents. Meanwhile, the Confederates could supply themselves along the river, protected by the Fort. Confederate stupidity bailed Grant out.

The Confederates didn’t think about supplying themselves by water; it was unconventional, and they were cut off by land. They also thought Grant was stronger than he really was, and being continually reinforced. They worried that Foote would turn up with another fleet. In a council of war on the night of February 14, they decided to try and break out.

The plan was to reinforce the left (Pillow) with Buckner’s men from the right. Pillow would lead the attack and clear the road to Charlotte and Nashville. Buckner’s men would keep the road open while the rest of the garrison was evacuated, and everybody would join the main army in central Tennessee. It almost happened. Pillow, with Buckner joining the attack, broke the Union line in late morning. They captured 300 prisoners, about 5,000 rifles, and an artillery battery. Indecision then lost the victory. Pillow was cautious, Buckner bold, and Floyd foolish. After hemming and hawing Floyd ordered his (victorious) men to return to the trenches. Meanwhile Grant returned to the field. He’d been conferring with Foote (wounded, so the conference had to be on the gunboat) and returned in time to rescue the battle.



He ordered his reserve into action, attacking the Fort rather than the victorious Confederate left. The deploying attack was what drew the Confederates back to their trenches, but Buckner’s men didn’t arrive in time. They held the Union to only limited gains, but the Confederate’s main defensive line was broken. They had broken the Union line, but snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Grant also rallied his right, and reoccupied most of the ground lost in the morning, so the day closed with a near-total Union advantage.

One opportunity remained for the Southerners: McClernand hadn’t blocked the river road; a part, perhaps a substantial part, of the Confederate forces could escape. Floyd lacked the strength of will to risk his men, and held another council of war. The decision was to surrender. But Floyd decided that wasn’t good enough for him. He reckoned his own life was at risk if he was taken prisoner (as U.S. Secretary of War he’d made some decisions that helped the seceding states, and he was under indictment) and hopped on the last steamer to Nashville. (He did take about 2,000 Virginia infantry with him.) Gideon Pillow then declared he was too valuable to lose, and Buckner was left to make the actual surrender, although he’d always argued for more fighting. Another man refused to surrender, and Nathan Forrest broke out along the river road with his cavalry regiment and a few infantry. On February 16, 1862, the 12,000-man garrison surrendered. Buckner had enquired about terms and Grant uncompromisingly replied “No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted.” Buckner fumed that it was “ungenerous and unchivalrous” but it was warlike. With a demoralized command he had no choice.

Additional Sources:

www.civilwaralbum.com
www.state.tn.us
usa-civil-war.com
www.rugreview.com
www.nps.gov
www.lmunet.edu
www.civilwaralbum.com
www.galwest.com

[SAMWolf]

'No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works.'

-- General U.S. Grant
reply to General Buckner's request for terms of surrender.
The words gave rise to a new meaning for the General Grant's initials of U.S.

[SAMWolf]

The State of the Union is Strong!
Support the Commander in Chief
Click Here to Send a Message to the opposition!

[SAMWolf]

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Everybody.

Chow time!
NG's and ER's to the front of the line.

Standing Operating Procedures state:
Click the Pics For Today's Tunes

[SpookBrat]

Good morning sweet heart. Civil War history makes me sad.

[Soaring Feather]

Good Morning SAM!

[SAMWolf]

Morning Spooky.

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Feather.

[aomagrat]

Today's classic warship, USS Los Angeles (ZR-3)

Los Angeles class airship
Length: 658 feet
Diameter: 90 feet 6 inches
Volume: 2.4 million cubic feet
Max speed: 76 mph

USS Los Angeles, a 2,472,000 cubic foot rigid airship was built at Friedrichshafen, Germany. Her construction was partially funded by German World War I reparations and was conditional on her being employed for "civil" purposes. Completed in August 1924 under the builder's number LZ-126, she departed Germany in mid-October 1924 for delivery to the U.S. Navy. After a three day trans-Atlantic flight, the airship arrived at Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey, where her hydrogen lifting gas was replaced with non-flammable helium. This greatly increased her safety, but also significantly reduced her payload and range. On 24 November 1924 she was placed in commission as USS Los Angeles by Mrs. Calvin Coolidge and began several years of flight activity to explore the potential of her type for commercial and Naval use.

Between February and May 1925, she voyaged twice to Bermuda and one time to Puerto Rico, and made test moorings to the Navy's floating airship base, the oiler Patoka.

In June 1925, Los Angeles began an overhaul at Lakehurst, while her expensive helium gas was transferred to the older dirigible Shenandoah (ZR-1). The latter's tragic loss, on 3 September 1925, produced a temporary shortage of helium, delaying Los Angeles' return to flight service until March 1926. However, she was actively employed for six years after that, five of them as the Navy's only rigid airship.

During this time, in addition to her normal training and experimental duties, she was used to calibrate East Coast radio compasses, made several cross-country flights around the eastern and southern United States, landed briefly on the aircraft carrier Saratoga and continued her work with Patoka. A unique incident on 25 August 1927, in which she briefly rose tail-high to a near-vertical position while attached to Lakehurst's tall mooring mast, demonstrated the dangers inherent with this type of facility and led to the adoption of the "stub" mast used for more than three more decades of dirigible and blimp operations.

Also in 1927, Los Angeles began a series of operations that developed techniques for basing airplanes on board airships, a concept that promised to greatly expand the dirigible's potential for fleet scouting. In the winter of 1931, with her "civil use" restrictions diplomatically eased, she flew to Panama to participate in Fleet Problem XII, the first time an airship had taken part in a major U.S. Fleet exercise since 1925. Later in 1931 she operated for a short time with the new USS Akron (ZRS-4), a much larger dirigible whose design owed much to Los Angeles's work.

At the end of June 1932, she was decommissioned and placed in preservative storage in Lakehurst's airship hangar. Following reconditioning in 1934, she began three years of non-flying experiments, including open-air moorings. Los Angeles left her hangar for the last time in November 1937 and, in October 1939, was stricken from the Navy list and began the dismantling process. Within a few months, USS Los Angeles, the most successful of the Navy's rigid airships, had been reduced to scrap.

[Soaring Feather]

This will crack you all up!! Source, same Swede friend as yesterday!!

By the time Willard pulled into a little town
every hotel room was taken.
He finally pulled up to the very last hotel and
went into the office.

"You've got to have a room somewhere," he
pleaded. "Or just a bed - I don't care where."

"Well, I do have a double room with one
occupant," admitted the manager, "and he might be glad to split the cost. But to tell you the truth, he
snores so loudly that people in adjoining rooms
have complained in the past. I'm not sure it'd be worth it to you."

"No problem," the tired travellers assured him.
"I'll take it."
The next morning Willard came down to breakfast
bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

"How'd you sleep?" asked the manager.

"Never better."

The manager was impressed. "No problem with the
other guy snoring, then?"

"Nope, I shut him up in no time" said Willard.

"How'd you manage that?" asked the manager.

"He was already in bed, snoring away, when I came
in the room," Willard xplained. "I went over, gave him a kiss on the cheek, said, 'Goodnight,
beautiful,' and he sat up all night watching me."

[SAMWolf]

LOL!

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning, aomagrat. Different kind of "ship" today.

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on April 03:
---- Pak Tai Hong Kong
1245 Philip III king of France (1270-85)
1593 George Herbert English metaphysical poet (5 Mystical Songs)
1783 Washington Irving American writer (Legend of Sleepy Hollow)
1822 Edward Everett Hale US, clergyman/author (Man without a Country)
1823 William Macy "Boss" Tweed corrupt NYC political boss
1837 John Burroughs writer/nature enthusiast (Burroughs Medal namesake)
1893 Leslie Howard London, actor (Gone With the Wind)
1894 Dooley Wilson Tyler Tx, actor (Bill-Beulah)
1895 Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco Firenze (Florence) Italy, composer
1898 George Jessel toastmaster general/entertainer (Diary of Young Comic)
1898 Henry R Luce publisher (1965 Fisher Award)
19-- Anne DeSalvo Phila, actress (Compromosing Positions)
19-- John Laughlin Memphis Tn, actor (White Shadow)
19-- Kuan Yin buddhist/taoist deity
19-- Pat Proft Minneapolis Mn, comedy writer (Naked Gun, Airplane)
1904 Peter Van Steeden Amsterdam Neth, orch leader (Break the Bank)
1904 Sally Rand US, actress/ecdysiast/fan dancer (1933 Chic World Fair)
1916 Herb Caen Sacramento Calif, columnist (SF Chronicle)
1917 Bill Finegan Newark NJ, (Sauter-Finegan Band, Sat Night Revue)
1918 Sixten Ehrling Malm” Sweden, conductor (Royal Opera of Stockholm)
1920 Stan Freeman Waterbury Conn, pianist (Melody Tour)
1921 Harry Landers NYC, actor (Ted Hoffman-Ben Casey)
1921 Marilyn Maxwell Clarinda Iowa, actress (Grace-Bus Stop)
1923 Jan Sterling NYC, actress (1st Monday in October, HS Confidential)
1924 Doris Day Cincinnati Oh, "girl next door" actress (Pillow Talk)
1924 Marlon Brando Omaha Neb, actor (Superman, Godfather)
1925 Tony Benn British minister of technology (1968)
1926 Virgil Grissom Mitchell Ind, Lt Col USAF/astronaut (Merc 4, Gemini 3)
1927 Eva Sz‚kely Hungary, 200m backstroke swimmer (Olympic-gold-1952)
1929 Miyoshi Umeki Jap, actr (Mrs Livingston-Courtship of Eddie's Father)
1930 Helmut Kohl chancellor (Germany)
1930 Lawton Chiles (Sen-D-Fl)
1930 Max Frankel journalist (Tables of Id of Organic Compounds)
1931 Alex Cord Floral Park NY, actor (Jack-WEB, Michael-Airwolf)
1934 Jane Goodall London England, ethologist, studied African chimps
1934 Jim Parker NFL guard, tackle (Baltimore Colts)
1937 Simon Brown British high court judge
1937 William Gaunt Leeds England, actor (The Champions)
1938 Jeff Barry Bkln NY, rock writer (Tell Laura I Love Her)
1938 Phillppe Wynn rocker (Spinners)
1939 Vitaliy Davidov USSR, ice hockey player (Olympic-gold-1964, 68, 72)
1941 Eric Braeden actor (Victor Newman-Young & Restless)
1941 Jan Berry singer (Jan & Dean-Deadman's Curve)
1942 Marsha Mason St Louis Mo, (Blume in Love, Cinderella Liberty)
1942 Michael Elliott US, skier (Olympics-1968)
1942 Rick Sylvester parachute ski jumper (world record 3,300')
1942 Wayne Newton singer (Danke Sch”n)
1944 Richard Manuel rocker (Band-Cripple Creek)
1944 Tony Orlando NYC, singer (& Dawn-Tie a Yellow Ribbon)
1945 Catherine Spaak France, actress (Empty Canvas, Hotel)
1945 Richard Manuel pianist/vocalist (Up on Cripple Creek)
1946 Carlos Salinas de Gortari president (M‚xico)
1948 Garrick Ohlsson Bronxville NY, pianist (Intl Busoni winner 1969)
1948 Mary Gordon-Watson England, equestrian 3 day event (Oly-gold-1972)
1949 Lyle Alzado NFLer (LA Raiders)/actor
1949 Richard Thompson vocalist/guitarist (Shoot out the Lights)
1951 Mel Schacher bassist (Grand Funk Railroad-Some Kind of Wonderful)
1954 Mick Mars [Bob Allen Dale], IN, guitarist (M”tley Cre-Girls Girls)
1956 Miguel Bose Panama, spanish singer
1958 Alec Baldwin Amityville NY, actor, (Joshua-Knots Landing, Beetlejuice), (honorary frenchman)
1961 Eddie Murphy Bkln NY, actor (SNL, 48 Hours, Beverly Hills Cop, Raw)
1962 John Gruffith rocker (Red Rockers)
1968 Sebastian Philip Clerk Bach Bahamas, rock (Skid Row-Psycho Love)
1972 Jennie Garth Champagn Ill, actr (Kelly Taylor-Beverly Hills 90210)

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Deaths which occurred on April 03:
1882 Jesse James shot dead in St Joseph Mo by Robert Ford
1936 Bruno Hauptmann convicted Lindbergh baby killer, executed
1946 Lt Gen Masaharu Homma (responsible for Bataan Death March), executed
1950 Carter G Woodson "father of black history," dies in Wash DC at 74
1980 Luella Gear actress (Joe & Mabel), dies at 82
1982 Warren Oates actor (East of Eden, Stoney Burke), dies at 53
1990 Sarah Vaughn jazz singer, dies of lung cancer at 66
1991 Grahame Greene author (3rd Man), dies at 86

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On this day...
245 -BC- Origin of Era of Arsaces
309 -BC- Origin of Seleucid Era
419 [Etalius] ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1679 Edmund Halley meets Johannes Hevelius in Danzig
1776 Washington receives honorary Ll.D. degree from Harvard College
1783 Sweden & US sign a treaty of Amity & Commerce
1848 Thomas Douglas becomes 1st SF public teacher
1860 Pony Express began between St Joseph Mo & Sacramento Calif
1865 Union forces occupy Confederate capital of Richmond Va & Petersberg
1868 An Hawaiian surfs on highest wave ever, he rides a 50' tidal wave
1872 J C Watson discovers asteroid #119 Althaea
1886 J Palisa discovers asteroids #256 Walpurga & #274 Philagoria
1889 Savings Bank of the Order of True Reformers opens in Richmond, Va
1905 M Wolf discovers asteroid #562 Salome
1908 Frank Gotch wins world heavyweight wrestling championship in 2 hrs
1910 Highest mountain in North America, Alaska's Mt McKinley climbed
1916 S Belyavskij disc asteroid 854 Frostia, 855 Newcombia & 856 Backlunda
1918 House of Reps accepts American Creed written by William Tyler
1926 2nd flight of a liquid-fueled rocket by Robert Goddard
1927 Interstate Commerce Comm transfers Ohio to Eastern time zone
1930 Mont Canadiens sweep Boston Bruins in 2 games for Stanley Cup
1930 Ras Tafari becomes Emperor Haile Selassie of Abyssinia (Ethiopia)
1933 1st airplane flight over Mt Everest
1933 Then longest North American hockey game requires a 1:44:46 overtime as Maple Leaf Ken Doraty scores to beat Canadiens 1-0
1935 C Jackson discovers asteroids #1354 Botha & #1948 Kampala
1936 Al Carr KOs Lew Massey on 1 punch, :07 of the 1st round
1936 Shortest boxing bout with gloves lasts only 10 seconds
1937 K Inkeri discovers asteroid #1425 Tuorla
1940 Y Vaisala discovers asteroids #2194 Arpola, #2512 Tavastia & #3099
1944 Supreme Court (Smith v Allwright) "white primaries" unconstitutional
1948 1st US figure skating championships held
1948 Harry Truman signs Marshall Plan ($5B aid to 16 European countries)
1949 KQW-AM in San Francisco CA changes call letters to KCBS
1954 Don Perry climbs a 20' rope in under 2.8 seconds (AAU record)
1955 Balt Orioles pull their 1st triple play (3-6-2 vs KC Athletics)
1962 Jockey Eddie Arcaro retires after 31 years (24,092 races)
1964 Beatles hold the top 6 spots on the Sydney Australia record charts
1964 US & Panam agree to resume diplomatic relations
1965 1st atomic powered spacecraft (snap) launched
1967 113 East Europeans attending World Amateur hockey championships in Vienna, ask for political asylum
1968 N Vietnam agrees to meet US reps to set up preliminary peace talks
1970 Miriam Hargrave of England passes her drivers test on 40th try
1972 L Chernykh discovers asteroid #2142 Landau
1974 148 tornadoes are reported over an area covering a dozen states
1974 Gold hits record $197 an ounce in Paris
1975 Bobby Fischer stripped of world chess title for refusing to defend
1975 James Rupers kills his family to inherit
1976 N Chernykh discovers asteroid #3493
1976 Phila Flyers win record tying 20th straight NHL home game
1977 Boston Bruin Jean Ratelle scores his 1,000th NHL point
1977 Egyptian Pres Anwar Sadat 1st meeting with President Jimmy Carter
1981 Arnie Boldt of Saskatchewan jumped 6' 8.25", with 1 leg
1982 Buffalo Sabre Gil Perrault scores his 1,000th NHL point
1982 UN Security Council demanded Argentina withdraw from Falkland Islands
1984 E Bowell discovers asteroid #3676
1984 Soyuz T-11 carries 3 cosmonauts (1 Indian-Rakesh Sharma) to Salyut 7
1985 Vic Elliot pocketed 15,780 pool balls in 24 hours in London
1987 Bill Elliott sets NASCAR qualify record of 212.809 mph at Talladega
1988 Mario Lemieux wins NHL scoring title, stopping Gretsky 7 year streak
1988 NJ Devils beat Chicago to clinch their 1st ever playoff spot
1989 "Sunrise" a Gannett newspaper begins publishing for the Bronx
1989 Michigan beats Seaton Hall for NCAA basketball title
1992 1st exhibition game at Camden Field-Orioles beat NY Mets

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

Switzerland : Glarius Festival (1388) - - - - - ( Thursday )
Mass : Student Government Day - - - - - ( Friday )

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Religious Observances
Ang : Commemoration of Richard, Bishop of Chichester

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Religious History
1189 The Peace of Strasbourg was signed, resolving the differences between Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of Germany and Pope Clement III.
1528 In Cologne, German reformer Adolf Clarenbach, 28, was arrested for teaching Protestant (some say Anabaptist or Waldensian) doctrines. The following year, Clarenbach was burned at the stake for his faith.
1593 Birth of George Herbert, English clergyman and poet. One of his verses endures today as the hymn, "The King of Love My Shepherd Is."
1759 Anglican clergyman and hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter: 'I believe that love to God, and to man for God's sake, is the essence of religion and the fulfilling of the law.'
1950 Death of American hymnwriter Ira B. Wilson, 70. Associated with Lorenz Publishing in Dayton, Ohio for over 40 years, Wilson's most enduring sacred composition was "Make Me a Blessing" (aka "Out of the Highways and Byways of Life").

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Thought for the day :
"Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status."

[SAMWolf]

1936 Shortest boxing bout with gloves lasts only 10 seconds

That's about 8 seconds longer than I'd last in a ring.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks Cote. I can't believe you found a poem with Forts Henry and Donelson in it.

[DoughtyOne]

Special Edition Victory Series Production

The rescue of POW Private First Class Jessica Lynch has captured the attention of our nation.
This Victory Series submission is dedicated to her.

American POW Leaves Iraq After Rescue
inspiring details of the Private First Class Jessica Lynch story

By DOUG MELLGREN, Associated Press Writer

Excerpted to details about Private First Class Jessica Lynch, future recipient of the Purple Heart and possibly other medals as well.

NASIRIYAH, Iraq - An American flag folded across her chest, Pfc. Jessica Lynch left Iraq on a stretcher Wednesday April 2, 2003, after U.S. commandos, acting on a CIA tip, rescued the prisoner of war.

Lynch, a 19-year-old Army supply clerk, arrived at a U.S. air base in southwestern Germany on a C-17 transport plane late Wednesday for treatment at a U.S. military medical center.

"She's real spirited, she hasn't eaten in eight days and she's hungry," her father, Greg Lynch, said. "She wants some food."

U.S. officials in Kuwait said earlier she had two broken legs, a broken arm and at least one gunshot wound (see below for discrepancy).

Lynch was captured by the Iraqis more than a week ago after her maintenance unit made a wrong turn and was ambushed in Nasiriyah.

Following an intelligence tip about Lynch's whereabouts, U.S. special operations forces made their way behind Iraqi lines and seized Lynch from the Saddam Hospital under cover of darkness late Tuesday, American officials said.

The 507th was attacked March 23 during some of the earliest fighting in Nasiriyah, where Saddam's Fedayeen loyalists and other Iraqi fighters are said to have dressed as civilians and ambushed Americans.

Lynch fought fiercely and shot several enemy soldiers during the ambush. She fired her weapon after she had several gunshot wounds (see above for discrepancy) and kept firing until she ran out of ammunition, The Washington Post reported in Thursday's editions.

She watched several soldiers in her unit die and was stabbed when Iraqi forces closed in on her position, The Post quoted U.S. officials as saying.

An Iraqi pharmacist who works at Saddam Hospital told Britain's Sky television that he treated Lynch for leg injuries but that she was otherwise healthy. But he added, "every day I saw her crying about wanting to go home."

The pharmacist, who gave his name only as Imad, said Lynch knew the U.S. troops were on the other side of the Euphrates River and "she kept wondering if the American Army were coming to save her."

Kudos to Private First Class Jessica Lynch, for her courage under fire.

Home grown, from the heartland of the United States!

[Oldeconomybuyer]

**PHOTO & TRANSCRIPT** President Bush gives a thumbs up before speaking to a crowd of Marines