History | dual personalities

On this day in 1969, Apollo 11 went into Moon orbit. The following day, July 20, Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon at 20:18 UTC. I remember watching on a small black and white television and thinking it all had such a surreal quality to it.

Of course, we joked about the whole thing being faked on some soundstage somewhere.

One small step for man…

I mean really, doesn’t this have the look of a bad fifties movie? But our joking masked our worry and the strain of witnessing such an amazing event. It was incredibly stressful watching it. Disaster was always imminent.

After about 2 1/2 hours on the lunar surface and seven hours of rest, the crew lifted off and headed home.

A group of British scientists interviewed as part of the 40th anniversary events reflected on the significance of the Moon landing:

It was carried out in a technically brilliant way with risks taken… that would be inconceivable in the risk-averse world of today… The Apollo programme is arguably the greatest technical achievement of mankind to date… nothing since Apollo has come close [to] the excitement that was generated by those astronauts – Armstrong, Aldrin and the 10 others who followed them.

On August 7, 2009, an act of Congress awarded the three astronauts a Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award in the United States.

Apollo 11 crew at the White House in 2004 with President Bush

Yes, the summer of 1969 was quite a summer. Besides the moon landing, these important events took place within a few weeks of each other:

July 25: Sen. Ted Kennedy received a slap on the wrist (a 2-month suspended sentence) for leaving the scene of a fatal accident at Chappaquiddick, MA.

August 9-10: The Manson murders were perpetrated during a two-night rampage.

August 15-18: Nearly 400,000 people showed up at a farm in Bethel, New York, for a music festival–Woodstock.

August 17: Over 250 people were killed when Hurricane Camille struck the U.S. mainland.

And after all that, our brother headed off to college at the University of Vermont.

Our mother must have been a basket case. At the beginning of eighth grade, I was mostly oblivious.

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July 16, 2013

This other Eden

by chuckofish

RIchard II, King of England

Richard II (6 January 1367 – ca. 14 February 1400) was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard, a son of Edward, the Black Prince, was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III. Richard was the younger brother of Edward of Angoulême; upon the death of this elder brother, Richard—at four years of age—became second in line to the throne after his father. Upon the death of Richard’s father prior to the death of Edward III, Richard, by agnatic succession, became the first in line for the throne. With Edward III’s death the following year, Richard succeeded to the throne at the age of ten. (Read more about him here.)

If you are wondering why you are reading about Richard II, it is because today is the anniversary of his coronation in 1377. Huzzah! The history major in me likes to remind you of these important facts which I fear you may have forgotten. (I had.) And I am always happy to dig out a good Shakespeare quote, especially this one, which conjures up images, not of Sir John Gielgud and Derek Jacobi, but of Leslie Howard as the Scarlet Pimpernel!

“This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle,
This earth of majesty,
this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,–
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.”

― William Shakespeare, Richard II, Act 2, Scene 1

You remember Leslie Howard at the end of the movie, reciting these lines to Raymond Massey, don’t you?

You felt that he meant every word and he did. No one loved England more than he. He proved it a few years later by dying for his country during WWII. (I blogged about that previously here.)

Well, this post is further proof that I can bring just about any reference around to a movie. Who, sir? Me, sir? Yes, sir. You, sir.

3 Comments

July 2, 2013

Long remember

by chuckofish

This week marks the 150th anniversary (July 1–3, 1863) of the battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. The battle involved the largest number of casualties of the entire war (Antietam had the most in a single day) and is often described as the war’s turning point.

Last year I read Long Remember written in 1934 by Mackinlay Kantor.

It is considered the first “realistic” novel about the Civil War. I guess that means it does not glorify it or romanticize it in any way. It deals with the residents of the town of Gettysburg and how the battle affected them.

“She had never thought that war could be like this, with such a desperate casualness about it. War was fought in fields: there was the field of Shiloh, the field of Antietam, the field of Fredericksburg. She knew; she had read the papers. The papers mentioned nothing of people running across back yards and knocking down the clothes-props as they went.”

I liked it very much and highly recommend it.

I have also read The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of 1975.

This novel introduces you to all the main players on both sides in the battle of Gettysburg. My favorite, of course, is Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, who, though we share a surname, I cannot claim as a relative.

Col. Joshua Chamberlain of the 20th Maine Infantry, awarded the Medal of Honor, Governor of Maine and President of Bowdoin College

Col. Chamberlain was, of course, a Chamberlain from Maine, while our Chamberlins (sans “a”) hailed from Vermont. You will recall that my dual personality blogged about our other non-relative at Gettysburg, Waldo Farrar here.

They broke the mold when they made old Joshua Chamberlin. A devout Congregationalist and choir member, he was a college professor when the Civil War began. Chamberlain believed the Union needed to be supported by “all those willing” against the Confederacy. Of his desire to serve in the War he wrote to Maine’s Governor Israel Washburn, Jr., “I fear, this war, so costly of blood and treasure, will not cease until men of the North are willing to leave good positions, and sacrifice the dearest personal interests, to rescue our country from desolation, and defend the national existence against treachery.” Chamberlain put his money where his mouth was and joined up.

For his “daring heroism and great tenacity in holding his position on the Little Round Top against repeated assaults, and carrying the advance position on the Great Round Top”, Chamberlain was awarded the Medal of Honor.

In early 1865, Chamberlain was given command of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division of V Corps, and he continued to act with courage and resolve. On March 29, 1865, his brigade participated in a major skirmish on the Quaker Road during Grant’s final advance that would finish the war. Despite losses, another wound (in the left arm and chest that almost caused amputation), and nearly being captured, Chamberlain was successful and brevetted to the rank of major general by President Abraham Lincoln. Chamberlain gained the name “Bloody Chamberlain” at Quaker Road. Chamberlain kept a bible and framed picture of his wife in his left front “chest” pocket. A confederate shot at Chamberlain. The bullet went through his horse’s neck, hit the picture frame, entered under Chamberlain’s skin in the front of his chest, traveled around his body under the skin along the rib, and exited his back. To all observers Union and Confederate, it appeared that he was shot through his chest. He continued to encourage his men to attack. All sides cheered his valiant courage, and the union assault was successful.

In all, Chamberlain served in 20 battles and numerous skirmishes, was cited for bravery four times, had six horses shot from under him, and was wounded six times.

Chamberlain left the army soon after the war ended, going back to his home state of Maine. Due to his immense popularity he served as Governor of Maine for four one-year terms after he won election as a Republican. His victory in 1866 set the record for the most votes and the highest percentage for any Maine governor by that time. He would break his own record in 1868.

After leaving political office, he returned to Bowdoin College. In 1871, he was appointed president of Bowdoin and remained in that position until 1883, when he was forced to resign due to ill health from his war wounds.

Chamberlain died of his lingering wartime wounds in 1914 at Portland, Maine, age 85, and is buried in Pine Grove Cemetery in Brunswick, Maine. He was the last Civil War veteran to die as a result of wounds from the war.

Well, I seem to have gotten off the subject of Gettysburg here, but Col. Chamberlain has that effect on me. We should all toast Col. Chamberlain tonight and all those brave souls who fought during those bloody July days in Gettysburg. Going to the Gettysburg National Military Park is on my bucket list. One of these days.

“The faith itself was simple; he believed in the dignity of man. His ancestors were Huguenots, refugees of a chained and bloody Europe. He had learned their stories in the cradle. He had grown up believing in America and the individual and it was a stronger faith than his faith in God. This was the land where no man had to bow. In this place at last a man could stand up free of the past, free of tradition and blood ties and the curse of royalty and become what he wished to become. This was the first place on earth where the man mattered more than the state. True freedom had begun here and it would spread eventually over all the earth. But it had begun HERE. The fact of slavery upon this incredibly beautiful new clean earth was appalling, but more even than that was the horror of old Europe, the curse of nobility, which the South was transplanting to new soil. They were forming a new aristocracy, a new breed of glittering men, and Chamberlain had come to crush it. But he was fighting for the dignity of man and in that way he was fighting for himself. If men were equal in America, all the former Poles and English and Czechs and blacks, then they were equal everywhere, and there was really no such thing as foreigner; there were only free men and slaves. And so it was not even patriotism but a new faith. The Frenchman may fight for France, but the American fights for mankind, for freedom; for the people, not the land.”

― Michael Shaara, The Killer Angels

10 Comments

May 3, 2013

A blast from the past

by chuckofish

On this day in 1960 The Fantasticks opened at the Sullivan Street Playhouse, a small off-Broadway theatre in New York City’s Greenwich Village. A musical with music by Harvey Schmidt and lyrics by Tom Jones, it tells an allegorical story, loosely based on the play “The Romancers” (“Les Romanesques”) by Edmond Rostand, concerning two neighboring fathers who trick their children, Luisa and Matt, into falling in love by pretending to feud. The show’s original off-Broadway production ran a total of 42 years (!) and 17,162 performances, making it the world’s longest-running musical.

Hard to believe I know, but I have never seen The Fantasticks! I know the famous song Try to Remember–I mean how many people sang that song in Talent Shows in the 1960s? And I know that the original cast included one of our favorites, Jerry Orbach, alias “Lenny”.

Here he is singing Try to Remember.

Interesting side note: Jerry was born to a Jewish father and a Catholic mother and raised Catholic. However, he died an Episcopalian and is buried at Trinity Church Cemetery (located in Upper Manhattan between Broadway and Riverside Drive, at the Church of the Intercession, New York) along with Clement Clark Moore, John James Audubon, and many members of New York’s social elite. Way to go, Jerry!

2 Comments

April 30, 2013

No time to read?

by chuckofish

“Once upon a time in the dead of winter in the Dakota Territory, Theodore Roosevelt took off in a makeshift boat down the Little Missouri River in pursuit of a couple of thieves who had stolen his prized rowboat. After several days on the river, he caught up and got the draw on them with his trusty Winchester, at which point they surrendered. Then Roosevelt set off in a borrowed wagon to haul the thieves cross-country to justice. They headed across the snow-covered wastes of the Badlands to the railhead at Dickinson, and Roosevelt walked the whole way, the entire 40 miles. It was an astonishing feat, what might be called a defining moment in Roosevelt’s eventful life. But what makes it especially memorable is that during that time, he managed to read all of Anna Karenina. I often think of that when I hear people say they haven’t time to read.”

― David McCullough

They sure don’t make ’em like him anymore.

5 Comments

April 25, 2013

Happy birthday, Oliver Cromwell!

by chuckofish

Well, this week we celebrate the birthdays of many worthy souls, but I have to say, none so worthy as Oliver Cromwell (25 April 1599 – 3 September 1658). I do love old Oliver, great-great-great-nephew, by the way, of another favorite, Thomas Cromwell. As an American and a member of the “rabble,” a lover of liberty, as a believer in public education for all and a Puritan at heart, I certainly sympathize with this Roundhead who rebelled against the absolute power of the monarchy and the divine right of kings.

“I had rather have a plain russet-coated captain that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that which you call a gentleman and is nothing else.”

–Letter from Cromwell to Sir William Spring. Sept. 1643

Indeed.

“I confess I have an interest in this Mr Cromwell; and indeed, if truth must be said, in him alone. The rest are historical, dead to me; but he is epic, still living. Hail to thee, thou strong one; hail across the longdrawn funeral-aisle and night of time!…”

Thomas Carlyle, Historical Sketches

You either love him or hate him. But even those who despise him, have to admit he was a good Protector of England.

“To give the devil (Cromwell) his due, he restored justice, as well distributive as comutative, almost to it’s ancient dignity and splendour; the judges without covetousness discharging their duties according to law and equity…..His own court also was regulated according to a severe discipline; here no drunkard, nor whoremonger, nor any guilty of bribery, was to be found, without severe punishment. Trade began again to prosper; and in a word, gentle peace to flourish all over England.”

Physician to the Cromwellian Court, George Bate, Post-Restoration indictment of his master Oliver Cromwell.

There seems to be little middle ground.

“He was a practical mystic, the most formidable and terrible of all combinations, uniting an aspiration derived from the celestial and supernatural with the energy of a mighty man of action; a great captain, but off the field seeming, like a thunderbolt, the agent of greater forces than himself ; no hypocrite, but a defender of the faith; the raiser and maintainer of the Empire of England.”

Lord Rosebery, in W.C. Abbott, The Writings and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell

I can relate to that “practical mystic.”

Anyway, I think this is a perfect occasion to watch Cromwell (1970) starring Richard Harris as Cromwell and Alec Guinness as Charles I. This is actually a really good movie, and I think Harris, although an Irishman and raised to be a hater, gets Cromwell just right. It is, indeed, one of his best film roles. Alec Guinness looks eerily like the King and manages to make him real and sympathetic.

Here’s a clip to whet your appetite:

2 Comments

February 28, 2013

While the nearer waters roll

by chuckofish

On this day in 1784 Charles Wesley chartered the Methodist Church in America. He believed he could not wait any longer for the Bishop of London to ordain someone for the American Methodists, who were without the sacraments after the American War of Independence. The Church of England had been disestablished in the United States and had not yet appointed a United States bishop for what would become the Protestant Episcopal Church in America. In a bold move Wesley ordained Thomas Coke by the laying on of hands although Coke was already a priest in the Church of England. Wesley appointed him to be superintendent of Methodists in the United States.

In a side note, Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT (founded in 1831) was the first institution of higher education to be named after John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. About 20 unrelated colleges and universities were subsequently named after Wesley. Several members of our family attended Wesleyan in the 19th century, including the brothers of our great-grandfather William Carnahan. He was thought too sickly to go to college and was sent instead to Colorado for his health.

He doesn’t look too fragile to me. Anyway, he met our great-grandmother Anna Barnsley Hough in Lake City.

Several years later they were married in Las Animas, Colorado, moving to Chicago thereafter. Their youngest child was our maternal grandmother.

None of them were Methodists, although you will remember that Anna’s uncle, the Colorado cattle baron, was named…John Wesley Prowers.

This is how my brain works.

6 Comments

February 6, 2013

William and Mary loved of old

by chuckofish

On this day in 1693, the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia was granted a charter by King William III and Queen Mary II.

Privately founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III and Queen Mary, it is the second-oldest institution of higher education in the United States after Harvard University. (Some at W&M would argue that point.)

U.S. Presidents Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and John Tyler were educated at William and Mary, as well as other key figures important in the development of the nation, including U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall, Speaker of the House Henry Clay, and 16 signers of the Declaration of Independence. And lest we forget, John Stewart is a graduate.

I have a Masters Degree (in history) from the College and spent a year living happily in Williamsburg.

Here is my dual personality in a Williamsburg garden when she visited me during her spring break at Smith.

I went back almost 30 years later when daughter #2 was visiting colleges in Virginia and North Carolina in 2007. A lot had changed, but much was the same. I was amazed by how little I actually remembered of the campus. Outside of the library and a few classrooms, I guess I didn’t spend a lot of time on campus. I think I had been much more engaged with Colonial Williamsburg, which was and still is a very cool place.

And now for the Interesting Family Sidebar!

Henry Compton, my husband’s ancestor, was the first chancellor of William and Mary (from 1693–1700 and again from 1707–1713). But this long-distance post was the least of his accomplishments!

Henry Compton was born in 1623, the 6th son of Spencer Compton, the Earl of Northampton. He and his brothers all served with their father during the English Civil War (on the Royalist side–boo). After the death of his father at the Battle of Hopton Heath, Henry left the army and made a career in the Church.

He was made Bishop of Oxford in 1674, and in the following year was translated to the see of London. He was also appointed a member of the Privy Council, and entrusted with the education of the two princesses – Mary and Anne. Being a staunch Protestant, he had nothing but trouble with James II, so it is no surprise that at the Glorious Revolution, Henry Compton embraced the cause of William and Mary. Indeed, he was one of the “Immortal Seven” who invited William to invade England. He stepped up and performed the ceremony of their coronation when others would not. His old position was restored to him, and among other appointments, he was chosen as one of the commissioners for revising the liturgy. During the reign of Anne he remained a member of the Privy Council, and was one of the commissioners appointed to arrange the terms of the union of England and Scotland. However, to his bitter disappointment, his claims to the primacy were twice passed over. He died at Fulham on 7 July 1713 and is buried at Compton Wynyates.

The old family home

My husband’s progenitor, however, was actually Henry’s adopted son, the son of his cousin John Compton, who died in battle. Typical. Another hero who is merely a cousin! Well, Henry adopted the 14-year old and it was this man, John Compton II, who went to Maryland where Henry had been given a land grant. From afar, Henry helped set up the Anglican Church in Maryland.

As you can see, the Comptons started off rather brilliantly in this country. Unfortunately they went to seed in Kentucky (not without good reason I’m sure) following the Civil War and for some generations were probably akin to some of our favorite characters on “Justified”.

All families have their ups and downs! It keeps us humble, right?

12 Comments

January 24, 2013

Rest in peace, Winston Churchill

by chuckofish

As you know, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, PC, DL, FRS, Hon. RA was a British politician, best known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He died on this day in 1965 at the age of 90.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the 20th century, he served as Prime Minister twice (1940–45 and 1951–55). A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian, a writer, and an artist. He is the only British prime minister to have received the Nobel Prize in Literature and was the first person to be made an Honorary Citizen of the United States.

I remember how really sad my parents (especially my father) were when Winston died. We watched the entire televised funeral.

In our family, it was a Big Deal. My father probably used it as an excellent excuse to drink way too much and to entertain gloomy thoughts about the state of the world.

A few years later, my family went to visit the Churchill Memorial in Fulton, Missouri when it opened in 1969. This Church, St. Mary the Virgin Aldermanbury, had stood in London since 1677 when it replaced an earlier structure that had sat on the same site since the 12th century. A magnificent building, it was badly damaged during the London Blitz, and was moved stone by stone to the campus of Westminster College in Fulton and rebuilt to Wren’s original specifications. Beneath this Church is the National Churchill Museum itself. I have always meant to go back.

Maybe this year!

Anyway, a toast to Winston Churchill and to our pater who revered him!

“All the greatest things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom; justice; honour; duty; mercy; hope.” (1947)

3 Comments

January 16, 2013

Fun facts to know and tell

by chuckofish

For his gallantry at San Juan Hill, his commanders recommended Theodore Roosevelt for the Medal of Honor.

He was not awarded the medal at that time, but 100 years later in the late 1990s, Roosevelt’s supporters again took up the flag for him. On January 16, 2001, President Bill Clinton awarded Theodore Roosevelt the Medal of Honor posthumously for his charge up San Juan Hill, Cuba, during the Spanish–American War. Roosevelt’s eldest son, Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., received the Medal of Honor for heroism at the Battle of Normandy in 1944. The Roosevelts thus became one of only two father-son pairs to receive this honor (the other pair being Arthur and Douglas MacArthur).

If I ever knew that, I had forgotten it. I am glad to know that T.R. got his Medal of Honor. I suggest a toast to him tonight!

Today is also the birthday of Robert W. Service, the Bard of the Yukon (January 16, 1874 – September 11, 1958).

When I was in Middle School, I was a big fan of Robert Service. (Yes, I was really cool.) I asked for and was given his collected poems for Christmas. I memorized large portions of my favorite poems, including “The Shooting of Dan McGrew.”

A bunch of the boys were whooping it up in the Malamute saloon;
The kid that handles the music-box was hitting a jag-time tune;
Back of the bar, in a solo game, sat Dangerous Dan McGrew,
And watching his luck was his light-o’-love, the lady that’s known as Lou.

Margaret Rutherford gave a dramatic recitation of the aforementioned poem in Murder Most Foul. Priceless. Here it is (with Italian subtitles!)–watch the whole thing! (Si. Si. Prego.)

Have a great Wednesday!

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dual personalities

Tag: History

July 19, 2013

We come in peace

by chuckofish

July 16, 2013

This other Eden

by chuckofish

July 2, 2013

Long remember

by chuckofish

May 3, 2013

A blast from the past

by chuckofish

April 30, 2013

No time to read?

by chuckofish

April 25, 2013

Happy birthday, Oliver Cromwell!

by chuckofish

February 28, 2013

While the nearer waters roll

by chuckofish

February 6, 2013

William and Mary loved of old

by chuckofish

January 24, 2013

Rest in peace, Winston Churchill

by chuckofish

January 16, 2013

Fun facts to know and tell

by chuckofish