History | dual personalities

November 16, 2016

The broad and beckoning highway or it’s good to have a hobby

by chuckofish

On this day in 1822 Missouri trader William Becknell arrived in Santa Fe, New Mexico over a route that became known as the Santa Fe Trail.

As you know, I am very interested in this historic route which connects Independence, MO and Santa Fe. One reason I am so fascinated by it is because my ancestor, John Simpson Hough, was an Indian trader in his youth and he made many trips up and down the trail and knew all the old timers, as did his brother-in-law, John Wesley Prowers.

Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site today

I have been to several stops along the way, including Arrow Rock, Mo, Westport Landing, MO, Council Grove, KS, and Bent’s Old Fort in La Junta, Co. There is a lot more to see! For instance, I can’t wait to make my way out to Pawnee Rock, KS,

the scene of many a dramatic encounter and the mid-point of the long road. I would also like to see the Santa Fe wagon ruts near Dodge City, KS, which are also (thank goodness) on the Historic Register.

Recently I have been reading Colonel Henry Inman’s famous book, The Old Santa Fe Trail, the Story of a Great Highway. A book reviewer in 1897 noted that

Colonel Inman sees his material with the eyes of a frontiersman, and herein lies the great charm of his book. He has accepted things as he found them, and has not stayed to philosophize on the deeper meaning of the scenes he describes, but has contented himself with the role of raconteur.

This is delightfully true.

It’s good to have a hobby.

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November 11, 2016

Filled with wisdom and girded with strength

by chuckofish

Today is Veterans Day when we salute and pay our respects to all those who serve and have served in the military.

O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

This is also the anniversary of the Great Blue Norther of November 11, 1911 (11/11/1911) wherein a cold snap affected the central U.S. Many cities broke record highs, going into the 70s and 80s early that afternoon. By nightfall, cities were dealing with temperatures in the teens and single-digits on the Fahrenheit scale. This is the only day in many flyover cities’ weather bureau jurisdictions where the record highs and lows were broken for the same day. Some cities experienced tornadoes on Saturday and a blizzard on Sunday. The main cause of such a dramatic cold snap was an extremely strong storm system separating warm, humid air from frigid, arctic air. Dramatic cold snaps tend to occur mostly in the month of November, though they can also come in February or March. They are nothing new, as you can see.

Today is also the birthday of Robert Bushnell Ryan (November 11, 1909 – July 11, 1973), film actor and graduate of Dartmouth College. He was never one of my favorite actors, but he did star in one of my favorite movies–you guessed it–The Professionals (1966). I have to admit that, after this week, I am in the mood for this great movie about “some men with guns, going somewhere, to do something dangerous.”

Even though it is not a war movie, per se, it is about veterans. So I’m going with The Professionals. “Yes, ma’am, I’m on my way.”

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October 12, 2016

“Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes, Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies”

by chuckofish

This is the day Nurse Edith Cavell was executed in 1915 by the Germans during WWI.

Accused of treason, i.e. helping British and French soldiers to cross the border and eventually enter Britain, Edith was found guilty by a court-martial and sentenced to death. Despite international pressure for mercy, she was shot by a German firing squad. Her execution received worldwide condemnation and extensive press coverage. While the First Geneva Convention ordinarily guaranteed protection of medical personnel, the German authorities justified prosecution merely on the basis of the German law and the interests of the German state. What were they thinking?

In the months and years following Edith’s death, countless newspaper articles, pamphlets, images, and books publicized her story. Her execution was represented as an act of German barbarism and moral depravity. (As it turned out, they weren’t wrong on that count.) The Allies claimed Edith as a martyr and she became an iconic propaganda figure for military recruitment in Britain. Within eight weeks of her death, enlistment into the British Army had doubled.

Edith, aged 49, was executed by firing squad just outside Brussels on October 12, 1915. Permission was given for the English Chaplain, the Rev. Stirling Gahan, to visit her the night before she died and together they repeated the words to the hymn Abide With Me. It was also to Gahan that Edith made her famous comment that “patriotism is not enough”. Her strong Anglican beliefs propelled her actions and so the Church of England commemorates her in their calendar of saints on October 12. Although we do not commemorate Edith Cavell on our Episcopal calendar, I think it is fitting that we recognize her here.

Martyrs never regret
what they have done
having done it.
Amazing too
they never frown.
It is all so mysterious
the way they remain
above us
beside us
within us;
how they beam
a human sunrise
and are so proud.

–Alice Walker

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October 11, 2016

Drawing the line

by chuckofish

Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon completed surveying for the “Mason-Dixon line” separating Maryland and Pennsylvania on this day in 1767. The work was done between 1763 and 1767 in order to resolve a border dispute involving Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

In popular usage, the Mason–Dixon line still symbolizes a cultural boundary between the North and the South.

Reading about this, it suddenly occurred to me that the name “Dixie” (used as a historical nickname for the southern states) must derive from Jeremiah Dixon’s name!

Mind-blowing that I just thought of that. Did you know that?

Anyway, here’s a great song by Mark Knopfler (with James Taylor) about Mason and Dixon, which was itself inspired by the book Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon.

P.S. I read that book back in the 1990s and liked it.

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August 10, 2016

What are you reading?

by chuckofish

My scholarly dual personality is too modest to tell you that her book has just been published!

It was six years in the making, but now it is out!

Gregory Urwin of the University of Oklahoma Press writes:

I am pleased to announce the release of Volume 55 in the Campaigns and Commanders Series that I edit for the University of Oklahoma Press — The Campaigns of Sargon II: King of Assyria, 721-705 B.C. by Sarah C. Melville.

If you think you know the Assyrians from fleeting references in the Old Testament, think again. Melville has plunged deep into the sources, which are more extensive than most of us would think. She mastered Akkaidian, the language of the Assyrians, so she could read the clay, gold, silver, copper, lead, and lapis lazuli tablets on which these people recorded their history, along with inscriptions on freestanding steles, natural rock formations, walls, doors, thresholds, and bull colossi of palaces. She also deciphered palace reliefs, consulted archaeological studies, and reviewed the documentation left by the Assyrians’ enemies.

The result is a history that depicts the Assyrians as a much more complex race of warriors. They could be cruel in war, but they devised much more sophisticated means to hold their empire together than beheading defeated warriors and sending conquered peoples into exile. I found the brand of geo-politics that Sargon II practiced to be surprisingly modern.

At a time when ISIS fanatics are attempting to obliterate the pre-Muslim history of the Middle East and south Asia, the appearance of Sarah Melville’s book could not be more timely. Impeccable research and a lively writing style makes this the definitive look at the Assyrian way of war.

It is with no little pride that I see this volume take its place in my series. Part of that pride rests on the fact that Sarah is also the first woman historian to publish with Campaigns Commanders. It was about high time that happened…

So get your copy of The Campaigns of Sargon II today! I have mine and I look forward to finding out all about Sargon II.

On the fiction side of things, I finished the Grantchester book this weekend and also re-read Olive Kitteridge, the wonderful novel by Elizabeth Strout. If you have not read this great book, I highly recommend it.

Enjoy your Wednesday!

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July 25, 2016

Weekend update

by chuckofish

“Saturday morning was come, and all the summer world was bright and fresh, and brimming with life. There was a song in every heart; and if the heart was young, the music issued at the lips. There was cheer in every face and a spring in every step. The locust-trees were in bloom, and the fragrance of the blossoms filled the air. Cardiff Hill, beyond the village and above it, was green with vegetation, and it lay just far enough away to seem a Delectable Land, dreamy, reposeful, and inviting.” *

Happiness is road-tripping with your BFFs in your home state and stopping at every antique mall along the way.

This past weekend we journeyed to historic Arrow Rock, MO. We stopped for lunch in historic Boonville and also in historic Blackwater.

What, you ask, makes them historic? Well, they’re old and there is probably some link to the Santa Fe Trail or a Civil War engagement. To some people they are just old river towns that have seen better days. But I like them.

The whole town of Arrow Rock is on the historic register. It is truly lovely, lush and green and well cared for. There are some wonderful old buildings.

The theater there seems to support the town and its bed and breakfasts, restaurants and shops.

It is a booming place during the theater season. We bought our tickets back in March when tickets first went on sale. (They sell out fast!) We made our B&B reservations in April and got the last room in town (practically).

As usual, I came prepared for a late afternoon pick-me-up.

Fun fact about Arrow Rock: In 1973, a musical version of Mark Twain’s “Tom Sawyer” was filmed here. It starred Johnny Whitaker as Tom, Jeff East as Huck, Celeste Holm as Aunt Polly, Warren Oates as Muff Potter, and Jody Foster in her third movie as Becky Thatcher. Supposedly, many of the town’s buildings and landscapes are recognizable in the film. I saw the movie back in 1973, but I guess I will have to check it out.

The OM, who does not enjoy the above activities, spent a quiet 36 hours home alone, ordering pizza and watching Nascar. At least that’s what he told me.

Our electricity went out Sunday night–it was 100-degrees outside–but it came back on after a couple of hours. Thunder and lightening followed. Now it is Monday and it’s back to the salt mines. Have a good week!

*Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

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July 7, 2016

The greatest thing since sliced bread

by chuckofish

Sliced bread was first sold on this day in 1928, advertised as “the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped.” This huge step for mankind was taken right here in my flyover state, in Chillicothe, Missouri!

I guess they are still pretty proud of this fact.

Also on this day in 1954 Memphis DJ Dewey Phillips played “That’s All Right” for the first time on his Red, Hot, and Blue show. Listeners began phoning in, eager to find out who the singer was. It was Elvis Presley.

The rest is history.

Today is also World Chocolate Day–celebrations include the consumption of chocolate. Well, duh.

So what is our message for today? Enjoy the day! Take a risk! Eat dessert!

Speaking of going for the gusto, here is a picture of the boy playing ice hockey in his men’s league.He wanted to play as a youngster, but we encouraged him to speed skate instead, which he did for several years. Then he switched to lacrosse. Good to see him finally padded up and happy! (BTW, where’s your mouth guard?!)

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June 28, 2016

“Chair’d in the adamant of Time”*

by chuckofish

I feel so sorry for anyone who misses the experience of history, the horizons of history. We think little of those who, given the chance to travel, go nowhere. We deprecate provincialism. But it is possible to be as provincial in time as it is in space. Because you were born into this particular era doesn’t mean it has to be the limit of your experience. Move about in time, go places. Why restrict your circle of acquaintances to only those who occupy the same stage we call the present?”

–David McCullough, “Recommended Itinerary” in Brave Companions

I concur.

As we approach Independence Day on July 4, why not read some history?

*Walt Whitman, “America”; the painting is by Childe Hassam.

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May 10, 2016

“Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees.”*

by chuckofish

Today is the 153rd anniversary of the death of General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson (age 39) following the Battle of Chancellorsville, when he was shot by friendly fire on the moonlit night of May 2, 1863.

“Chancellorsville” portrait, taken at a Spotsylvania County farm on April 26, 1863, seven days before he was wounded. What a face!

Here he is younger and beardless. Pretty dreamy.

I have always admired Stonewall Jackson as an exemplar of the Scotch-Irish Protestants who came to this country in the eighteenth century, many of them as indentured servants, and worked and fought hard to make a home here. In fact his paternal great-grandparents (John Jackson and Elizabeth Cummins) met on the prison ship from London and fell in love. They married six years later when they gained their freedom.

The family migrated west across the Blue Ridge Mountains to settle near Moorefield, Virginia in 1758. In 1770, they moved farther west to the Tygart Valley. They began to acquire large parcels of virgin farming land near the present-day town of Buckhannon, including 3,000 acres in Elizabeth’s name. John and his two teenage sons fought in the Revolutionary War; John finished the war as a captain. While the men were in the army, Elizabeth converted their home to a haven for refugees from Indian attacks known as “Jackson’s Fort.”

Yes, the Jacksons were awesome.

Furthermore, Stonewall was a profoundly religious man and a deacon in the Presbyterian Church. One of his many nicknames was “Old Blue Lights,” a term applied to a military man whose evangelical zeal burned with the intensity of the blue light used for night-time display. He disliked fighting on Sunday, although that did not stop him from doing so after much personal debate.

Here is a poem by Herman Melville that pretty well sums up my feelings about the great Stonewall:

Mortally Wounded at Chancellorsville

The Man who fiercest charged in fight,
Whose sword and prayer were long –
Stonewall!
Even him who stoutly stood for Wrong,
How can we praise? Yet coming days
Shall not forget him with this song.

Dead is the Man whose Cause is dead,
Vainly he died and set his seal –
Stonewall!
Earnest in error, as we feel;
True to the thing he deemed was due,
True as John Brown or steel.

Relentlessly he routed us;
But we relent, for he is low –
Stonewall!
Justly his fame we outlaw; so
We drop a tear on the bold Virginian’s bier,
Because no wreath we owe.

Monument Avenue in Richmond, VA

*Stonewall Jackson’s dying words–beautiful!

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March 11, 2016

“We must away ere break of day Over the wood and mountain tall”*

by chuckofish

Today I am heading east to visit daughters #1 and #2 in College Park.

We will cheer on daughter #1 on as she runs in the Rock ‘n Roll half marathon in D.C. Then we are heading to the Brandywine Valley in Pennsylvania for some museum and garden-going.

We will get our fill of N.C. Wyeth et al…

If you are looking for a good movie to watch in the meantime, I recommend Alleghany Uprising (1939) with a young John Wayne and Claire Trevor. I watched it this past week and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a highly politically-incorrect telling of a little-known piece of American history–

wherein a group of settlers in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny Valley struggle to try and persuade the British authorities to ban the trading of alcohol and arms with the marauding Indians.

Some of the character actors are priceless–such as Wilfred Lawson as the Scotsman MacDougall, who really steals the show. A very young George Sanders is appropriately uppity as the British captain who doesn’t have a clue. I would put this film in the they-don’t-make-’em-like-this-anymore category, i.e. good entertainment with an excellent story and characters.

So remember, I will be off the internet through next Thursday. Maybe my dual personality will check in. I hope so!

*J.R.R. Tolkien

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