Quiz: Who was Vercingetorix?
Yesterday’s Question Answered Below: Who was Uriah Heep? ( hint: not the 70’s
rock band)
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History for
9/23/2017
Birthdays: Euripides-484BC,
Victoria Woodhull, Walter Lippmann, Ray Charles, John Coltrane, Mickey Rooney,
Julio Inglesias, Walter Pidgeon, Louise Nevelson, Jason Alexander, Mary Kay
Place, Harry Connick Jr, Bruce Springsteen is 68, William McGuffey*
*McGuffey was the educator and
author of "the McGuffey Readers", a standard public 5school textbook
so successful, that by 1860 the U.S. had an 80% literacy rate.
480BC- THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS-
Themistocles and the Athenian fleet defeated the giant armada of Xerxes the
Great King of Persia and threw back his invasion. Xerxes was so angry he had
his top Phoenician captains beheaded. This battle assured the Golden Age of
Greek culture would flourish uninterrupted with democratic Athens at its’
center. The playwright Aeschylus fought in the ranks and Sophocles led the
chorus of nude boys dancing and singing in the victory celebrations.
Themistocles laid the foundation for Athenian power by insisting she build a
large navy rather than an army and concentrate on trade rather than territorial
conquest. But Themistocles liked to make money too, and used his offices to pad
his fortune, which eventually got him exiled. But not before in another moment
of originality he set himself up histories first known foreign bank account as
a private slush fund.
480BC- Greek Chronicles tell us
that also on this same day Glycon of Syracuse defeated the huge Cathaginian
host of Hamilcar and saved Sicily for Greece. Hamilcar spent the battle burning
up animal sacrifices to the Gods for good omens. When he saw he was losing
Hamilcar threw himself on the fire. Not a bad solution, because Carthage
tradition was to crucify generals who lost battles.
1326- Queen Isabella the
"She-Wolf of France" and her lover Edmund Mortimer invade England to
overthrow her openly out husband, King Edward II. Sounds like a soap opera,
doesn't it ?
1568- English merchantman John
Hawkins and his 3 slave trading ship were blown by a hurricane into the harbor
of San Juan de Ulua, the staging area for the fabulous treasure fleets that
carry the gold of Peru to Spain. The
Spanish and English worked out a temporary peace but on this day the Spanish
Viceroy ordered his men to attack and kill the English heretics. Only two ships
got away, and one carried a young clergyman's son from Devon who from then on
nursed a lifelong grudge - Francis Drake.
1642- The first commencement
ceremony at Harvard College.
1779- "I HAVE NOT YET BEGUN
TO FIGHT !" Captain John Paul Jones on the U.S.S. BonHomme Richard
defeated the larger British H.M.S. Serapis in an epic sea duel off Cape
Falmouth, England. The two ships grappled each other side by side, pounded away
with heavy cannon and fought hand-to-hand. The ships were so close that men
could jump through the gun portals from one ship to another. At one point
Bonhomme Richard was burning from stem to stern, sinking and all her guns out
of action. But John Paul Jones refused to give up. The American crew thought
their pint-sized Scots captain had lost his mind. When gunnery Ensign Grubb tried to haul down
the Stars & Stripes, Jones knocked him down with a pistol butt. English
Captain Pearson overheard Jones arguing with his officers about surrender and
called aloud "Sir, do you strike your colors, sir?" That’s when John
Paul Jones shouted his famous retort: "I have not yet begun to
fight!"
To make matters worse the other
American ship in the area the USS Alliance was manned by a jealous captain
named Launnay. He ordered a broadside fired into the Bonhomme Richard! Launnay
hoped that by helping the Englishman kill Jones, he could then finish off the
Briton and take all the credit for the victory. Jones personally ran over to a
ten pounder cannon whose crew had been killed, loaded it and fired it himself,
bringing down the Serapis’ mainmast.
Finally it was English Captain
Pearson who gave up. The BonHomme was so shot to pieces it sank so the victors
had to ride home on the Serapis. The point of the battle for Jones was trying
to raid a British merchant convoy, and the convoy got away, but the symbolic
victory to Americans and French was significant. John Paul Jones became a legend on the
English Channel. In 2002 the wreck of the Bonhomme Richard was discovered 7
miles off the English coast and is being explored.
1780-"TREASON MOST FOUL
!" General Benedict Arnold, fed up
with being ignored for promotion by the American high command, planned to
change sides by betraying West Point to the British. This was the huge American
fortress that would give Britain control of the Hudson River and so split the
rebellious colonies in half.
Major John Andre' of British
intelligence had a meeting with Arnold and was passing back through the lines
when he was apprehended by some Yankee militia. These rascals skulked between
the armies robbing anyone who chanced their way but when they discovered
incriminating documents in his boot, they turned Andre over to the authorities.
This morning Benedict Arnold found out Andre had been arrested and the jig was
up, just as George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Lafayette were riding
over for breakfast !
Arnold escaped to the warship HMS
Vulture waiting down river while his wife Peggy stalled Gen. Washington’s party
in their parlor. When Washington learned of Arnold's treason and freaked, Peggy
feigned a fit of hysterics. Disheveled, with her baby at her breast, she
shrieked at the horrified Washington :"They're putting hot irons in my
Head! Hot irons in my Head!!". She was put to bed and later slipped away
to safety. It wasn't known until 1930
when British Army Intelligence documents were made public that loyalist Peggy
Arnold was not only deep in the scheme but had been the chief inspiration of
Arnold's changing sides. Major Andre was
hanged as a spy. When Peggy died in London of old age, a locket containing the
picture of Major Andre was found around her neck..
1803- Battle of Assaye- The
Maharatta Rajahs of the Deccan are defeated by a young British general named
Arthur Wellesley who Napoleon would meet twelve years later as the Duke of
Wellington at a place called Waterloo. Wellington in retirement said Assaye was
still his toughest fight.
1806- LEWIS and CLARK RETURN to
St. Louis, their starting off point, after two years exploring the West to the
Pacific. In all that time they only lost one man to disease and almost never
fired their guns in anger.
1845- After only six weeks of U.S.
rule, angry Los Angeleanos attack Commodore Stockton's home. The War with
Mexico hadn't broken out yet but American and Mexican paramilitary expeditions
(called Filibusters) angled for power in California due to the loose and
confused control from Mexico City. Mexican-Californian rancheros themselves
frequently defied the government authorities, giving rise to the Zorro stories.
1846- The planet Neptune
discovered by Johann Gottleib Gala.
1862- writer Leo Tolstoy married
Sophie Behrs.
1862- Battle of Wood Lake-
Minnesota militia put down the Great Santee Sioux Uprising led by Chief Little
Crow. The Sioux had set up an ambush in the tall grass on either side of a road
but the hungry Army troops steered their wagons right into the fields to look
for left over potatoes. The Indians had to reveal their position and fire
before they were run over.
1889- The Nintendo Company started
in Kyoto, They began by making hand-painted playing cards. In 1956 they
transitioned to electronics, and invented Donkey-Kong, Gameboys, Pokemon and The
Legend of Zelda.
1912- "Cohen Collects a
Debt" Max Sennett's first film comedy featuring the Keystone Kops.
1939- At the World’s Fair in New
York a time capsule was buried not to be opened until the year 6939. It
contains a Bible, a mail order catalog and newsreels of President Franklin Roosevelt.
I hope they include a description of what film was….
1962- H& B's show The
Jetsons premiered. It was the first ABC show to be presented in color. Jane! Stop this Crazy Thing! Jane!
1964- Marc Chagalls’ paintings on
the ceiling of the Paris Opera House unveiled.
1969- the film "Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" premiered. Written by William Goldman
and directed by George Roy Hill. It made fortunes for stars Paul Newman and
Robert Redford, who later started and independent film festival called
Sundance.
1984- Michael
Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Frank Wells met the Disney Animation Dept. and
are pitched storyboards for the film Basil of Baker Street, later called
the Great Mouse Detective. Up to now their thinking had been to
dismantle the animation department and earn income from the licensing of the
existing library. Roy Disney was instrumental in insisting the animation
division remain. Eisner dictates memos to start the television animation
division.
1994-
Quentin Tarentino’s film Pulp Fiction premiered.
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