August 5, 2013, 04:07 PM | #401 |
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Good to be Cheyenne (male)
"If a man found it impossible to live peaceably with his wife, he might divorce her in public fashion, notifying everyone that he abandoned all rights in her that he might possess. This action was usually taken in the dance lodge at some dance or gathering of his own soldier society, and according to a certain prescribed form. Before he acted the man notified his soldier band of what he purposed to do. At a set time in the dance, therefore, the singers began a particular song, and the man, holding a stick in his hand, danced by himself and presently danced up to the drum; struck the drum with the stic; threw the stick up in the air, or perhaps toward a group of men in the lodge, and, as he threw it, shouted: "There goes my wife; I throw her away! Whoever gets that stick may have her!" Sometimes to this was added, "A horse goes with the stick!" If this last was said, the person who secured the stick received the horse---but not the wife.
"If the man threw the stick across the dance lodge at a group of men, each of them was likely to dodge, or jump to one side, to avoid being hit. If one of them was hit, or was narrowly missed by the stick, other men were likely to joke him, and to say: "Ha! you want that woman, do you? I thought I saw you reach for the stick!'" "By this act the man renounced all rights to the woman thrown away, and if anyone married her, the husband might not claim any gift or payment. "To be treated publicly in this way was a disgrace to a woman. In any dispute or quarrel that the woman might be engaged in later, the matter was likely to be brought up, and her opponent might say, "Well, I never was thrown out of the dance by the drum." If by chance a man married a woman who had been disgraced, and if they ever wrangled, he was likely to remind her of this. It was not forgotten. This cermeony occurred but seldom, yet it is still well recognized. Perhaps the last case on the Tongue River Indian Rservation occurred in 1899." Take from George Bird Grinnell's, The Cheyenne Indians, Vol. I, pages 153-154. I picked up my copy at Bent's Old Fort.
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October 31, 2013, 06:45 PM | #402 | |
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A Ghost Story
This is taken from Mrs. Hill's Journal - Civil War Reminiscences. Sarah Jane Full Hill was married to First Missouri Volunteer Engineer Regiment's Maj. Eben Marvin Hill. The following is from pages 323-25.
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November 3, 2013, 08:30 AM | #403 | |
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Training & Tactics circa 1863s
I was thinking of putting this in T&T, but it's old. What is important is that E.M. prepared and trained his wife; thereby making for a small OODA Loop. That part is highly relevant today. From pages 261-63 of Mrs. Hill's Journal.
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November 6, 2013, 10:11 PM | #404 |
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On the eleventh of the month Texas Brigade was ordered to Staunton to reinforce Stonewall Jackson. Early in the day General Hood halted each regiment in turn, and gave his orders. To the Fourth he said, "Soldiers of the Fourth: I know as little of our destination as you do. If, however, any of you learn or suspect it, keep it a secret. To everyone who asks questions, answer, 'I don't know." we are now under the orders of General Jackson, and I repeat them to you. I can only tell you further, that those of you who stay with the command on this march will witness and participate in grand events."
General Jackson gave strict orders against depredating on private property. Apples were plentiful, and it was contrary to nature not to eat them. Jackson saw a Texan sitting on the limb of an apple tree, busily engaged in filling his haversack with the choicest fruit. He reined in his old sorrel horse, and in his customary curt tone, asked, "What are you doing in that tree, sir?" "I don't know," replied the Texan. "What command do you belong to?" "I don't know." "Is your command ahead or behind you?" "I don't know." And thus it went on -- the same "I don't know" was given as answer to every question. Finally, Jackson asked, "Why do you give me that answer to every question?" "Cause thems the orders our Gineral gin us, this morning,' and' he tole us he got 'em that er way, straight from ole Jackson," replied the man in the tree, and disgusted with a too literal obedience to his own commands, but yet not caring to argue the point, General Jackson rode on.
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November 9, 2013, 07:31 AM | #405 |
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Form a line (with one man)
A private on picket duty, under orders to allow no one to pass inside the Confederate lines without giving the countersign, was approached by his brigadier-general, who asked,
"What would you do, sir, were you to see a man coming up that road toward you?" "I should wait, General," said the private, "until he came within twenty feet of me, and then halt him and demand the countersign." "Very good, very good," commented the General; "but suppose twenty men approached by the same road, what would you do then?" "Halt them before they got nearer than a hundred feet, sir, and covering them with my gun, demand that the officer in command approach and give the countersign." "Ah! my brave fellow," began the general in his most flattering voice, "I see you are remarkably well posted concerning your duties. But let me put still another case. Suppose a whole regiment were coming in this direction, what would you do in that case?" "Form a line immediately, sir," answered the private unhesitatingly, and without a smile. "Form a line? form a line? repeated the officer, in his most contemptuous tone. "What kind of line, I should like to know, could a single man form?" "A bee-line for camp, sir," explained the picket.
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November 17, 2013, 12:37 PM | #406 | |
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Never give up on a deer
This thread with some sage advice reminded me of reading an incident involving the men of the First Colorado. http://thefiringline.com/forums/show...17#post5687017
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ETA: My article on the New Mexico Campaign was published in Oct. 2013 edition of Crossfire, the magazine of the UKCWRT. A longer, two part version of the article will be published next year in Muzzle Blasts.
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November 22, 2013, 05:44 AM | #407 | |
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White Shield speaks with Agent Wilkinson
The following was recorded by Col. Philippe Regis Denis de Keredern de Trobriand. de Trobriand was colonel of a regiment that fought in the Civil War. He rose to the rank of brigadier general and was brevetted as major general of volunteers. Post war, he returned to France and wrote his memoirs, Four Years in the Army of the Potomac (it is a good read and may take some time to find a copy). As one of the few officers selected to remain in the army, he received a commission as a colonel and was sent to the Dakotas. He spent several years there and wrote his journal which was later published as Army Life in Dakotas. The following excerpt is from pages 139-40.
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November 23, 2013, 10:27 PM | #408 | |
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More from Trobriand
Trobriand describes being snowed in his cabin at Fort Stevenson. His cook cannot deliver his breakfast and after a couple of hours, he opens his door to see four feet of snow. His cook can't even leave the kitchen. A tiny 1/2" opening on one door resulted in a snow reaching everywhere within one room. A few of the younger officers have their wives with them. They and their children share in their husband's suffering. Of these women, he wrote:
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There is a book by a modern historian about the army wives of the frontier. Glittering Misery. Haven't read it myself.
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November 28, 2013, 02:39 PM | #409 | |
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The general and the private (from page 26 of Charming Nellie)
For Thanksgiving, here's one short amusing incident.
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December 7, 2013, 04:45 PM | #410 | |
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OK, I read modern stuff too. This is from Edward Heiberger's "Angels On Our Shoulders" and is about his experience as a B-29 crewman during WW II.
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December 9, 2013, 02:19 PM | #411 | |
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more from Heiberger
Finished the final early.
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February 3, 2014, 08:34 PM | #412 | |
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Marriage proposal no woman could possibly refuse
But she did. Why she did escapes me.
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(Taken from the introduction of Dakota War Whoop by Harriet E. Bishop McConkey).
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May 27, 2014, 12:31 PM | #413 |
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From Capt. Sam Grant (first book in a triology about U. S. Grant)
[Currently reading Lloyd Lewis' Captain Sam Grant. As a boy, Grant came home with frozen feet. His mother first wrapped his feet in smoldering straw afterward wrapped them in bacon. Bacon is expensive nowadays.
Some older officers did not embrace new technology well. "General Worth and other old army officers when the percussion guns and caps were first introduced... they feared that the caps would be lost and the men left helpless, forgetting that powder for pouring in the pan of a flintlock gun was attended with greater risk of loss." Yep, I'm sure that's a problem even to this day.
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May 27, 2014, 07:38 PM | #414 |
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Thanks Gary.
I've enjoyed reading this series; glad to see it restarted. Tight groups. Old No7
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May 27, 2014, 11:40 PM | #415 |
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Bacon wrapped feat beats sheep dung tea for bad lungs. That was also in the book.
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May 29, 2014, 01:24 PM | #416 | |
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Soldier who died at Fort Yuma, CA
In its day, Fort Yuma, California was the hottest army post in the nation. Dr. Tripler shared this story with Grant and his wife, Julia. It concerns a soldier who died at that post.
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June 7, 2014, 04:43 PM | #417 | |
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Who wants ice cream? The crew of the HMS London does.
During WW II, it became known that
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June 7, 2014, 08:48 PM | #418 |
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There are some very funny revenge stories I've read . The carrier crew learned of an imminent inspection by an admiral who had the reputation of being a PITA. At one point he was walking across the flight deck with a young ship's officer. He suddenly threw his cap on the deck and said to the officer "That's an incendiary bomb. What are you going to do ? " The officer calmly kicked it over the side !
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September 27, 2014, 02:58 PM | #419 |
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During the Siege of Vicksburg
"A German from Newark called to see us while we were in the ditches and seemed unconscious of the danger he was in, but he noticed the whistling of the bullets and inquired what that was singing through the air. When we informed him he exclaimed, 'Oh, I tot dy ver leetle pirds.' He sought a more healthy locality soon after."
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September 29, 2014, 08:41 PM | #420 | |
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Meet 76th OVI's Pvt. Jerry Ring
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October 4, 2014, 03:36 PM | #421 |
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Jerry on one occasion came into the Colonel's tent very early in the morning with a very indignant face. When the Colonel inquired the matter he exclaimed, "Matter enough, Colonel; devil of a n**** kin I get to take keer of the horses besides meself." Jerry was an ardent Democrat and hated the negroes. He pretended to be a great traveler and to have been in many places over the world. The Colonel one day prevailed upon him to give an account of himself in detail and state the time that he had remained in each place. When the Colonel footed the figures, Jerry had made himself out 146 years old. When Jerry took a drink his toast was, "Here's to the officers and men of the Seventy Sixth Regiment, and may the American Age frown upon the Quain of Angland any time at all."
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October 12, 2014, 09:04 AM | #422 | |
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Last Jerry Ring story
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November 30, 2014, 11:25 AM | #423 | |
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Killing Patton by O'Reilly & Dugard
Saw the book at Costco, but didn't buy it. Cheap, non-acid free paper was discouraging to me. So, I got it at the public library instead. It's a fun read but the authors with exception to Stalin don't believe that a bunch of leading people wanted Patton dead. The mysterious disappearance of the accident report and the third person in the truck that hit Patton's vehicle, as well as the OSS man who claimed to have shot Patton in the neck with a poison dart are all mentioned. The narrative does have a few inaccuracies, but it doesn't ruin the readability of the book.
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January 17, 2015, 02:43 PM | #424 |
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Patton, behave yourself
During WW II, the Germans looted art that belonged to Jews or from conquered nations. They had to store it somewhere until the war was over at which point the art would be displayed in public museums or be in the private hands of high ranking Nazis. Herman Goering was prominent among the looters. Anyway, one storage place was the Merkers mines. Sculptures, papayri, rugs, mosaics, paintings and a lot of gold bars and stolen gold were there.
It was captured by the Allies and Ike, Bradley, Eddy (XII Corps) and other generals went there to inspect it. There was only one elevator down and they were all on that single elevator. Patton said,"If that clothesline should part, promotions in the United States Army would be greatly stimulated." Ike wasn't too happy about that crack and in the darkness silenced Old Blood 'n Guts, "OK, George, that's enough. No more cracks until we are above ground again." As we know, no one died from that visit and the officer in charge of securing it was told by one fellow that he could take a helmet filled with US gold eagles. He estimated it at $35,000. When he tried, he couldn't lift the helmet and placed the gold back into the bags. After all, he had more important things to do. Anyhow, as late as today, art with nazi provenance is returned to its rightful owners. Source is The Monuments Men. It's the story of the soldiers who were in charge of securing monuments, art and archival material.
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March 28, 2015, 06:52 PM | #425 | |
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George Hanger
George Hanger served in Cornwallis' Army that fought in the Southern Colonies. He wrote about the American riflemen.
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When originally coined, cracker was a corruption of the Gaelic word, "craic" which meant entertaining conversation. It was used in Shakespeare's The Life and Death of King John. "...what cracker is this who deafes our ears with superflous breath?" For the ethyomology of "cracker" and "redneck", please refer to Craig L. Barry's The Unfinished Fight, Vol I: Essays on the Confederate Material Culture, pages 207-11.
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