January 16, 2011, 01:54 PM | #376 | |
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So I'm reading Lady Florentia Sale's book
A Journal of the Disasters in Afghanistan. She was married to General Sale, who was posted up there.
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palkee, palanquin Feringhees, europeans Interesting how over a century and a half later, some folks think nothing of killing a woman there today.
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January 28, 2011, 08:54 PM | #377 | |
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Letter from a wife to a husband during WW II
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Miller gives talks and his memoirs, A Tanker's View of World War II, is published by Thomas Publications of Gettysburg. ISBN 1-5774--111-3
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February 21, 2011, 07:45 PM | #378 | |
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Sentenced for homelessness
This is modern stuff out of Weimar Germany.
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That old law German Empire law was phased out as jailing a person for being obdachlos (homeless, if I got the spelling right) didn't make sense. The above was written by Joseph "Red" Roth and published in the Neue Berliner Zeitung, Sept. 23, 1920 and later republished as "What I Saw: Reports From Berlin."
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March 13, 2011, 12:06 PM | #379 | |
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US Army unofficial bicycle corps
I rummaged through the Friends of the Library bookstore and found a book on the 25th Infantry, an original buffalo soldier unit. The book is The Twenty-Fifth Infantry by John H. Nankivell. It had too much modern history (for my taste) and not enough frontier and Spanish American War. I did find this gem in it.
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March 16, 2011, 10:13 AM | #380 | |
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Since 4V50 Gary's previous post mentions that the 25th Infantry was an original buffalo soldier unit... Who Were These Buffalo Soldiers And How Did They Get Their Name?
Photo Link: http://projects.ajc.com/gallery/view...rn-art/10.html What's their connection to General John "Black Jack" Pershing? Read all about the history of these Buffalo Soldiers and discover what they accomplished. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Soldier Quote:
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August 15, 2011, 01:56 AM | #381 |
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During the Civil War...
James Hancock was a spy who had wonderful facial expression and great powers of mimicry. While in Richmond's Castle Thunder Prison, he staggered and fell over. Witnesses rushed forward and after examining, stated he was dead. A Confederate surgeon was summoned who also examined him and pronounced him dead. Hancock's body was placed onto a wagon and driven off to the hospital where the coffins were. When the driver arrived, he turned around and discovered he had lost the body. He retraced his steps and to see where the body fell off. Unable to find Hancock, he notified the officials and Castle Thunder Prison who in turn notified the detectives (Libby had its own detectives to track down escape prisoners) and the police.
Hancock didn't leave town but registered himself at the best hotel in the city. He bought himself some new clothes and ran about town, availing himself to the sights, the food and entertainment. While running about town enjoying himself, the Provost guards stopped him. Hancock crossed his eyes and drew his mouth to one side. Confused, the provost released him. Wiser men would have fled long ago for safety but not Hancock who stayed for four more days until he was arrested at the post office. This time Hancock squinted his left and and drew his mouth to the right side and feigned deafness. Nonetheless, he was taken to back to Castle Thunder where neither the staff, the guards nor the inmates recognized him. After a while, Hancock's facial muscles tired from the contortions and he relaxed his face. Immediately he was recognized and it was only the war's quick end that saved him from the hangman's noose.
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August 17, 2011, 12:23 AM | #382 |
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More Strange Escapes
Brown, being pro-Confederate, got into a drunken brawl with a Union soldier whom he killed. Brown was what the Provost called white trash. Arrested, he was thrown into Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C. His cellmate took an immediately disliking to him and wanted him out.
The cellmate told Brown that he had overheard the warden instruct the guards that Brown was to be executed and it was to be the next morning. Distressed, Brown bemoaned his fate and desperately wanted to live. The cellmate then assuaged Brown's fear by telling him that prior to the war, he was a circus acrobat. He then told Brown that with a good springboard, he could fly high into the air and that it was quite possible to spring from the cell, over the inner yard and the fence and into the outer yard where escape would be possible. Seeing a chance to cheat death, Brown filled with enthusiasm and so the two pried up a floorboard in their cell. They pushed the floorboard out of the window and secured it to the window sill. Brown then crawled out on hands and knees until he reached the very end. Then ever so carefully, he began to stand up. Once fully erect, he started to bounce. Slowly at first, as if he were seemingly unsure of himself, and then as he began to gain height, with greater energy. When he thought he was bouncing high enough, he lept! The drop from the cell window's was a good 40-50 feet. Brown sailed into the air, over the yard the fence. He almost impaled himself on a guard's bayonet when he landed in the outer yard. The wide-eyed guard was shocked by Brown's sudden appearance. With gaping mouth, the guard fled from Brown. Brown ran to the shed and began to climb its roof. Once on top, he could hop over the outer wall and be free! Unfortunately for Brown, one guard who was alert brought him down at gunpoint. Brown repeated his stunt but on his next try, was shot. Unfortunately, the cellmate's name was not recorded. I guess he was pretty effective in getting rid of cellmates.
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September 24, 2011, 01:37 AM | #383 |
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Bribe your guard to let you escape
That was done by PoWs both blue and gray.
At Castle Thunder in Richmond, Virginia, some Yankees didn't have any money but that minor fact didn't stop them. One Yankee approached the Confederate guard on duty and told him that he and three other PoWs would each give $50 in gold if they were permitted to escape. The guard didn't blink and excused himself to consult with the guard outside. Figuring that they would each net $100 in gold, they agreed and told the Yankees that it was a bargain. That night, the prisoners approached the window to climb out onto the platform where the outside guard stood. From the platform they could descend via staircase to the street below. As the first Yankee approached, the guard inside asked for his money. "Last man has it," he was told. The guard watch as the first man, then the second, then the third, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth and finally the seventh. Finally the guard gave the alarm but not before five men got away. The two who were caught readily identified the two Confederate guards who were bribed. It is likely that the hapless pair were court martial.
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September 24, 2011, 01:49 AM | #384 |
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It might not be much of a story, but I always got a kick out of the fact that the first POW's of the Civil War or many prisoners from the beginning of the war weren't even really kept behind a fenceo r treated bad in the least bit. Some could just walk away, but most chose not to at - least at first.
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September 24, 2011, 11:23 AM | #385 |
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There are examples of PoWs being sent to the rear without first having been disarmed.
After Richmond was evacuated, Libby Prison was converted to a prison for Confederates. One Confederate Capt. Richard Turner imprisoned there was once the second in command at Libby. Capt. Turner was placed into a cellar cell. Having been second in command, Turner was aware that there had been a previous escape where a Yankee officer removed an iron bar and slipped out into the street. Lacking resources, the Confederates didn't have the iron (or stone mason) so they simply got a wood stick, painted white to match the iron bars and installed it where the iron bar was. Turner took advantage of this and removed the wood bar and slipped out. He was free for a month and hiding with his family when the soldiers came for him. His daughter convinced him not to fight and he surrendered himself. Turner was paroled on June 18, 1866.
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March 9, 2012, 02:20 PM | #386 |
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During the Siege of Chattanooga, General Peter Osterhaus was part of the relief column that entered the city. He and some of his officers were standing on the porch when the lady of the house came out and complained to him that they were getting the porch all muddy. She asked him to do something about it. He being a German gentleman agreed immediately. "Poys. You are getting the lady's porch all muddy. Please step inside the house so you won't get it dirtier."
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March 12, 2012, 10:32 AM | #387 | |
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In the Days of Victorio
This is by a Warm Springs Apache who, as a child was given a can of food, perhaps underwood liverwurst. Here is their reaction:
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March 20, 2012, 06:32 PM | #388 |
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Civil War water gun and flame thrower
Beast Ben Butler, the most hated Yankee General, was enthusiastic about a new invention with which he would bring down the Rebs. "One man has brought a fire-engine, wherewith he proposes to squirt on earthworks and wash them all down! An idea that Benjamin Butker considered highly practicable. Then, with his Greek fire, he proposes to hold a redoubt with only five men and a small garden engine. 'Certainly,' said General Meade; 'only your engine fires thirty feet, and a minie rifle 3000 yards, and I am afraid your five men might be killed, before they had a chance to burn up their adversaries!'"
The flame thrower was proposed to the USN in the early 1810s or so and was rejected as barbaric.
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March 20, 2012, 08:04 PM | #389 |
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recommend "Killer Angels" historical novel on Civil War
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April 2, 2012, 01:30 PM | #390 |
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When in late 1861 pro-secessionist women began wearing red and white rosettes to proclaim their support for the South, Union General Henry Halleck responded by distributing like rosettes among the town's prostitutes. Not wanting to be associated with the women about town plying their vocation, the practice of wearing rosettes promptly ceased.
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April 11, 2012, 06:38 PM | #391 |
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History of the Ojibway People by William Warren
First published in 1885, Objiway member Warren transcribed the memory of his people. They were at times enemies with the Dakotas and at others inter-married with them. The Ojibway participated in the attack at Fort Michilimackinac and at the Rendezvous of the Fur Trade Era.
The book is worth the time for anyone interested in the period.
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April 14, 2012, 06:58 AM | #392 | |
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Sometimes I read modern stuff. This is from the memoirs of Austro-Hungarian Navy U-boat commander Georg von Trapp. His family was the basis for The Sound of Music. They fled Austria rather than serve Hitler. The book is reprinted in English as, To the Last Salute. Enjoy.
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April 20, 2012, 10:53 AM | #393 | |
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Lovely eyes
During WW I, UB-II commander Oberleutant Werner Furbringer was told:
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November 9, 2012, 08:59 PM | #394 | |
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No Life for a Lady
by Agnes Morley Cleveland. She was born in 1874 in New Mexico. Her book records life in New Mexico in the late 19th and early 20th Century. It's great reading for those interested in cowboys.
Here's an excerpt: Quote:
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November 17, 2012, 09:47 PM | #395 | |
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From page 60 of Agnes Morley Cleveland's, "No Life for a Lady." Cleveland was raised on the New Mexico frontier. Here she tells of horses and how they were reliable and trustworthy friends who knew the way home.
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December 29, 2012, 06:47 PM | #396 | ||
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Camp Trinidad
Near Trinidad, Colorado was the site of a WW II PoW camp. Most of its prisoners were from the Afrika Korps. When they arrived, they were not happy at all with the camp and expected better treatment (ha! They didn't know how bad our GIs and Airmen had it over there). Anyway, letters going out were read and where applicable, were censored.
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Ironically one escapee (all escapees were eventually caught) Til Kiwe, whose real name was Till Edward Kiefer, post-war became an actor and played the role of Frick or the Ferret in The Great Escape. The above is from Kurt Landsberger's Prisoners of War at Camp Trinidad, Colorado 1943-46. Landsberger was a Viennese Jew who fled Austria to America before Krystallnacht. During the war he enlisted in the US Army and served as an interpreter at Camp Trinidad. The camp is gone today but some of the stone post markers are said to be still standing.
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December 29, 2012, 08:15 PM | #397 |
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Pop'em like a whip and it breaks their neck......I've seen videos of tribesmen doing cobras that way.
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December 30, 2012, 03:23 PM | #398 | |
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Hard tack, hard tack, come again no more.
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December 30, 2012, 04:55 PM | #399 |
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wow thank you for the story gary. i can't imagine that but believe it(as every situation and scenario/location was different at the time not even counting more often the rebs were more hungry than the union soldiers). that being said many Enlisted men would eat the corn out of horse manure, so I wouldn't be surprised if they would swallow the hardtack worms and all too....
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January 13, 2013, 12:39 PM | #400 | |
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Sir Robert Baden-Powell
He was mentioned on page one of this thread as the founder of the Boy-Scout movement. During WW I, he penned a small book as part of his contribution to the British War effort. From "Quick Training For War" we have this amusing entry:
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