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How To Use This Site


This blog was updated on a daily basis for about two years, with those daily entries ceasing on December 31, 2013. The blog is still active, however, and we hope that people stopping in, who find something lacking, will add to the daily entries.

The blog still receives new posts as well, but now it receives them on items of Wyoming history. That has always been a feature of the blog, but Wyoming's history is rich and there are many items that are not fully covered here, if covered at all. Over time, we hope to remedy that.

You can obtain an entire month's listings by hitting on the appropriate month below, or an individual day by hitting on that calendar date.
Use 2013 for the search date, as that's the day regular dates were established and fixed.

Alternatively, the months are listed immediately below, with the individual days appearing backwards (oldest first).

We hope you enjoy this site.
Showing posts with label Texas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Texas. Show all posts

Thursday, June 17, 2021

Lex Anteinternet: Juneteenth

Lex Anteinternet: Juneteenth

Juneteenth

This passed Congress earlier this week, and was signed into law today.  Unusually, the impact is truly immediate.

For those who might not know, Juneteenth commemorates the news of the Emancipation Proclamation reaching Texas, which would have been the Confederacies most distant territorial assertion. 

Governor Gordon Responds to Federal Recognition of Juneteenth Holiday

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Today, President Biden signed a law creating a federal holiday recognizing Juneteenth. Governor Gordon has also signed a proclamation recognizing the significance of the day, which commemorates the end of slavery, while encouraging self-development and respect for all cultures. Wyoming has recognized the Juneteenth holiday since 2003, when the state legislature passed a bill establishing the holiday on the third Saturday of the month.

Because of the President's action, Friday June 18, 2021 is a holiday for most federal employees per the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. In Wyoming the Legislature has set State Holidays. While tomorrow will not be a state holiday, the Governor will work with lawmakers to consider this option for future years. 

“Freedom is always a cause for celebration and this is a momentous day in our nation’s history. I encourage people to observe this commemoration of the full enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation, which embodies the values of all Americans,” Governor Gordon said.

--END--

Friday, December 27, 2013

December 27

1836  Stephen F. Austin died. Attribution:  On This Day.

1867  Dakota Territorial Legislature creates Sweetwater County.

1890  The Union Pacific in Cheyenne received twelve new switch engines for distribution.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1899  A shipment of 500 cats from New Jersey, being sent to the Philippines for "rat control," passes through Laramie, Wyoming, on the Union Pacific Railroad.  That's a lot of cats.

1918  December 27, 1918. The Collapse of the German Empire. The Rise of Poland. A League of Nations.
Polish soldiers digging trenches in their 1918-1919 war against Imperial Germany.

The final stages of the collapse of Imperial Russia saw huge numbers of Polish troops join forces with any Russian rebels and the establishment of a defacto Polish state from Polish lands that had been under the crown.  Indeed, not only did this occur, but Polish forces and rebels soon were engaged in combat with Ukrainian forces and rebels over what was Polish and what was not.

On this day, in 1918, that spread to Germany.

The collapse of the German war effort in World War One is such an important historical event that most histories of World War One simply end with that and treat the German Revolution as a bit of an epilogue.  Histories of World War Two tend to treat it as a prologue.  But what should be evident from reading these posts is that Imperial Germany didn't really end on November 11, 1918, or even before that when the Kaiser abdicated shortly before, but rather Imperial Germany sloppily turned the reins of government over to a provisional socialist government that found itself with a major domestic revolution on its hands from the hard left and the old Imperial Army with which to put it down.  It was trying desperately to do so.  

Contrary to what occurred after World War Two, the allied occupation following the Armistice of November 11 was quite limited in scope. This is also sometimes misunderstood. The occupation following the Second World War was intended to totally demilitarize and remake Germany.  The 1918 one was not, but instead was intended merely to prevent a resumption of the war with the West.  It was quite limited, but strategic, in scope.

Occupation zones following November 11, 1918.  'Armistice and occupation of Germany map', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/armistice-and-occupation-germany-map, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 15-Jun-2017

Indeed, the occupation zones were actually frankly anemic and basically were simply sufficient for the Allies to create a strong defense on the south bank of the Rhine with bridgeheads over it, in case of a resumption of the war.  That this was highly unlikely was obvious by the behavior of the Allies themselves, who immediately began to repatriate their soldiers and sailors to their homes and discharge them.  While I disagree with those who insist on the Versailles Treaty being the date that ended all doubt, this map gives them a point.

Cheyenne readers on this learned that Wyoming Guardsmen would definitely be overseas for awhile.

Wyomingites in the 91st Division would be remaining overseas as well.  On the positive side, it seemed that American troops were getting along well with German civilians.

As does the behavior of Germany itself, within its borders.  The German Army was very active, where it could be, but it couldn't be everywhere, and it was effective everywhere it was.

On December 24, the German Army had been defeated in a street battle with Berlin by Red Sailors and Kreigsmarine and soldiers who had gone over to the Reds.  Lots of significant towns were in the hands of Red revolutionaries who intended to form a communist government.  The provisional socialist government Weimar was struggling to retain power and not go down in a Red revolution.

On this day, the Poles added to their troubles.

The Posen region of Imperial Germany, a major coal producing region of the state, had always really been Polish. The German Empire had been just that, and like the Austrian Empire it included people who were not German by ethnicity within its borders, although not nearly to the same extent that was the case in the Austro Hungarian Empire.  Included in that were regions of what had been Poland and which were among its oldest possessions.

Prussian province of Posen, Polish regions in yellow.

The Poles had been subjects of conquest by neighboring Prussia back into Medieval times. In more recent times the Germans had participated in the dismemberment of what remained of Poland.  The Poles, in spite of a late German effort, had never been absorbed by the Germans who had always looked down upon them.   With the Poles reforming their country out of the Polish regions of Russia, it was inevitable that Poles in Posen would attempt to break away and joint them.

What wasn't inevitable was that it would work, but it did.  The Polish rebels were largely successful in a two month long war with Germany which saw them seize control of most of the region.  On February 16, 1919 with a renewed armistice involving the Poles and the Germans imposed by the Allies.  The Versailles Treaty would settle the territorial question in favor of Poland.

Cartoon in the New York Herald, December 27, 1918.  This cartoon is only quasi clear.  It was celebrating the concept of a League of Nations, but are the little dachshunds republics made up of a dismembered German state?

On that treaty, the British were very strongly backing a League of Nations, and that was starting to get some press, and some discussion in the United States, where views were initially quite favorable.

Training in the US kept on in other places, exploring the newly learned and newly acquired.


1926 1,000 rabbits shot near Medicine Bow and sent to Rawlins, Wyoming, to feed the hungry.

1934  History repeated itself, according to the Casper Star Tribune:
 Hundreds of Homes Enjoy Feast Provided by Great Hunt ...

"The announcement that the thousands of rabbits taken by scores of nimrods in the most successful hunt of its kind ever staged in Wyoming were 'ready for the skillet' was all that was needed. ...

"Rabbits, skinned and washed to meet the taste of the most discriminating, disappeared as if by magic. The success of the hunt was only eclipsed by the appreciation of hundreds who came in a steady stream, and by 2 o'clock yesterday a supply which was expected to meet all demands was completely exhausted. ...

"No one tried to make off with more than a reasonable share. ...

The most taken by one family was 11 rabbits for a family of 10. Many asked only for two to four, depending upon the number in the household.

"The result was that rabbit sizzled and fried in hundreds of Casper homes last night."
From the Trib's this "A Look Back In Time" column.

1943  The USS Casper, a Tacoma Class frigate, launched.

.
1941     American authorities in the Philippines declared Manila an open city.

1945     The World Bank was created with an agreement signed by 28 nations.

Elsewhere:   1900     Carry Nation carried out her first public smashing of a bar, at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, Kan.

1979     Soviet forces seized control of Afghanistan.

Monday, December 16, 2013

December 16

1826   Benjamin Edwards rides into Mexican-controlled Nacogdoches, Texas, and proclaims himself the ruler of the Republic of Fredonia.

1868  Albany and Carbon Counties established by the Dakota Territorial Legislature.  At this point in time, Wyoming was part of the Dakota Territory.

1868  The first train, a Union Pacific train, arrived at Evanston.

1871  Wyoming State Library established.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1875  William S. Sweezy takes over as U.S. Marshall, replacing Frank Wolcott.  Wolcott would later famously be associated with invaders side of the Johnson County War.

1916  The Cheyenne State Leader for December 16, 1916: Villa proposes deal with US?
 

Rumors were circulating that Villa had proposed a deal with the US, and Pershing stood to be promoted.

The Wyoming Tribune for December 16, 1916: Home folks send boxes to border


Care packages were being sent to Wyoming National Guardsmen in New Mexico.
1942  Bob Hope entertained troops at Casper Army Air Base.  Attribution. Wyoming State Historical Society.

1944     German forces launched a surprise attack against Allied forces in Belgium.  The massive surprise attack commenced a three week long battle known to history as The Battle of the Bulge.

1950 President Truman proclaimed a national state of emergency in order to fight "Communist imperialism."   The announcement reflected recent history, including the June invasion of South Korean by North Korea, an event which had resulted in the Federalization and commitment of the the 300th AFA of the Wyoming Army National Guard.  It also reflected a host of other events, such as the Berlin blockade and the ever increasing Soviet grip on Eastern Europe.

2016  After a long period of consideration, the United States Forest Service removes 40,000 acres in the Wyoming Range from mineral entrants.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

December 11

1839  Diplomats from Texas arrive in Mexico City with portfolios to negotiate for peace.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1869  The Territorial Legislature concluded its session.

1872  William F. Cody makes his first appearance on the stage in the play Scouts of the Prairie, in Chicago.

1873  The Territorial legislature approved the incorporation of Evanston.  It would later rescind it, and then approve it again. Attribution.  On-This-Day .com.

1875  The Territorial Legislature appointed a commission to study prison costs in regards to Laramie as the prison location.  It determined that cost savings justified appointing the Nebraska penitentiary as the Wyoming Territorial prison facility at the time.

1917  Dean Knight Resigned as Dean of the University of Wyoming, December 11, 1917.
The minutes of that meeting:

Minutes

Knight Hall is of course named for him.

1917  Rawlins struck with disaster when its hospital burned.  Attribution, Wyoming State Historical Society.

1936 Britain's King Edward VIII abdicated the throne in order to marry American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson.  They had been introduced by Wyomingite Mildred Harris.

1941  Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.  The United States declared war on Germany.   Polish government in exile declares war on Japan.  The Dutch government in exile declares war on Italy.  Mexico breaks relations with Germany and Italy.  Italy, Japan and Germany sign an agreement that none shall sign a separate peace with the US and UK.

1952  Boysen Dam declared operational.

Monday, December 9, 2013

December 9

1716   Martín de Alarcón, founder of San Antonio, appointed governor of Texas.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1854 The poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, published.

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

2.

"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

3.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

4.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.

5.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

6.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.

1867 The capital of Colorado Territory was moved from Golden to Denver.

1869  Governor Campbell approved the design for the Territorial Seal.  The Territorial Seal would continue on to be used to some extent after statehood, as the first State Seal was subject to extensive controversy as competing Senators submitted alternative variants, and Governor Barber was left with a mess.  This was, moreover, more than a little significant, as during this era State seals were used for National bank notes. Wyoming's therefore, carried the Territorial Seal in at least some instances after statehood.

A very fine article on the topic of the State Seal appears in the Vol 84, No 2, Spring 2012 , Annals of Wyoming, by former geology professor Peter Huntoon.

1873  The Territorial Legislature approved a measure moving the seat of Sweetwater County from South Pass City to Green River.

1890  A bill for the admission of Idaho and  Wyoming as states was introduced into Congress.

1898  A post office was established at Garrett.  Attribution. Wyoming State Historical Society.

1912  Henry A. Coffeen, former Wyoming Congressman, died. 

1941 China declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy. Hitler ordered US ships torpedoed. The 19th Bombardment Group attacks Japanese ships off the coast of Vigan, Luzon. USS Swordfish (SS-193) makes initial U.S. submarine attack on Japanese ship. Canadian government orders blackouts and closes Japanese-Canadian newspapers and schools. China declares war on Japan, after nine years of "incidents". They were, of course, already at war. Cuba, Guatemala, the Philippine Commonwealth, and the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea also declare war on Japan. Korea, of course, is already occupied by Japan. Japanese troops from Kwajelein occupy Tarawa in the Gilberts. Japanese bomb Nichols Field on Luzon. Japanese capture Khota Baru airfield on Malaya. Siam agrees to a cease fire with Japan, signaling an early defeat there. Japanese ground forces attack across the frontier of the New Territories; capture the key position of Shing Mun Redoubt; D Company of The Winnipeg Grenadiers dispatched to the mainland to strengthen this sector.

1960  Edwin Keith Thompson, former Wyoming Congressman, and Senator elect at the time of his death, died.

1976  A 5.1 earthquake occurred in Yellowstone National Park.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

November 17

1835  The people of Cincinnati, Ohio raised funds for two cannons for Texas that became known as the "twin sisters."  Attribution:  On This Day.

1880  Rain In The Face surrendered with 500 followers at Ft. Keogh.


1906  Eleven people were killed in a head on train collision near Azusa, Wyoming.  The collision was caused by a mistake in a train order in a telegraph, and most of the men killed were railroad employees in a day coach.

1910  First annual conference of Wyoming clergy held. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1918  Monuments that didn't happen. November 17, 1918.
American infantrymen crossing the Armistice Line at Etain, November 17, 1918.


American troops were marching into Germany while some were denying that a prostrate Germany was prostrate.  And at the same time a proposal was made to erect a monument to the Great War dead from Natrona County in front of the courthouse.

That courthouse is now gone.  Maybe that monument was erected and is gone now, but as far as I'm aware, the only outdoor memorial to Natrona County's World War One veterans came up in the 2000s, although there were early memorials of other types, those being a trench mortar in Veteran's Park, Caissons at Washington Park, and a swimming pool named in memory of a lost soldier of World War One at the same park.

1919  November 17, 1919. News of the Carlyle Escape Breaks

News broke on this day in 1919 that William Carlisle, the train robber, had escaped from the penitentiary.  He'd broken out on Saturday.

He would not be out for long.

1925  An earthquake occurred at Big Horn with the tremor felt in Johnson and Sheridan Counties.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1980  Christ Episcopal Church in Douglas added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Elsewhere:

1968     NBC outraged football fans by cutting away from the final minutes of a game to air a TV special, "Heidi," on schedule.

1970   Douglas Engelbart receives the patent for the first computer mouse.

2008     The vampire romance movie "Twilight" premiered in Los Angeles, an event destined in future years to be ranked with the Vandals sacking Rome as a really bad day for Western Civilization.

2012  From the Governor's office:
CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Governor Matt Mead released the following statement regarding the refugee issue:

"No state should have to endure the threat of terrorists entering our borders," Governor Mead said. "The President needs to make certain an absolutely thorough vetting system is in place that will not allow terrorists from Syria or any other part of the world into our country. In light of the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris, I have joined other governors in demanding the refugee process be halted until it is guaranteed to provide the security demanded by Wyoming and United States citizens. I have written the President (letter attached) to make it known Wyoming will not accept a lackluster system that allows terrorists to slip through the cracks."

Governor Mead and other governors have a conference call with the President this afternoon.
I don't usually editorialize in these comments (although I do occasionally), but it's hard not to see this as a political reaction.  Given the lack of infrastructure for it, it is doubtful at best that any Syrian refugees would have been resettled in Wyoming.  A person can debate whether any terrorist  might enter the US in this fashion, but a person is also bound to consider the added humanitarian crisis that failing to address this situation will cause, and the added likelihood of that potentially inspiring violence in the future.

Friday, November 15, 2013

November 15

1835  Troops under George Fisher and José Antonio Mexía attacked the Mexican garrison at Tampico.  The assault was not a success.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1907 J. P. Hehn stepped down as Warden of the State Penitentiary and Fred Hillenbrand became the warden.



1912  The Bishop Randall Hospital was officially opened in Lander, Wyoming.

1916:   The Cheyenne Leader for November 15, 1916: Mexicans repudiate pact for joint border control, train robbed in Missouri, trouble in a synagogue.
 

Some interesting news for November 15, 1916.

An attempt at a pact on the Mexican border appeared to fall through, to the frustration of the U.S. delegates.

A train was robbed in Kansas City, Missouri. The paper referenced Bill Carlisle, the famous Wyoming train robber who is usually credited with the last train robbery in the US.  This story would obviously cast doubt on that claim.

In Cheyenne there was dissension on the rabbi that had been serving there.

1917   November 15, 2017. Siberian rumors and Border battles.
 

Residents of Cheyenne were reading today about a rumored, and totally false, revival of the fortunes of Czar Nicolas II.  The Czar, they read, was crowned Czar. . . again. . . . in Siberia.

Not so much.

Russia was descending into complete chaos however. That was real enough.


And so was Villa's revival right on the border with Texas.  His troops had in fact taken Ojinaga.

Having gone from desperate in March 2015, to pursued the rest of 2015 and 2016, he was back in top form and contesting for control of northern Mexico, to American consternation and concern, once again.  And now while we had a major war on our hands.

1919.  William Carlyle, train robber, escaped from the Wyoming State Penitentiary.

1921  A truck used by John J. Pershing in the Great War was donated to the Wyoming State Museum.

1926     The National Broadcasting Co. debuted nationwide with a radio network of 24 stations.

1937   The first US Congressional session in air-conditioned chambers took place.

1940     The first 75,000 men were called to armed forces duty under peacetime conscription. This wast the first time in U.S. history in which there had been a peacetime draft, excluding annual militia musters.

1943  Harmonica player Larry Adler played at the University of Wyoming.  Adler was a well known harmonica player.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

November 13

1806  Pike's Peak Colorado observed by Lieutenant Zebulon Montgomery Pike during an expedition to locate the source of the Mississippi.

1835  Texas officially proclaimed Independence from Mexico, and called itself the Lone Star Republic.  The very south east most slice of the state was within the Mexican province of Mexico, and therefore within the newly proclaimed republic, although it was not inhabited by European Americans or Mexicans at the time.  Borders in northern Mexico were more than a little theoretical.

1854  The Horse Creek Skirmish when the Sioux attacked a mail stage near the present location of Torrington.

1867  The first passenger train, a Union Pacific train, arrived in Cheyenne, WY.

1890  Fire damaged a saloon in Rawlins, Wyoming (Courtesy the Wyoming Historical Society).

1895  Floyd Taliaferro  Alderson born in Sheridon.  Alderson grew up on a ranch near Sheridan and served in World War One before becoming an actor in the silent movie era.  He acted in 22 silent films and was able to transition into talking pictures. He retired from acting in the 1950s and returned to the family ranch where he painted in his retirement. During his acting years he acted under a variety of names, including most notably Wally Wales,but also as Hal Taliaferro and Floyd Taliaferro.

1901 First CB&Q passenger train arrives in Cody, Wyoming.

1916:   The Laramie Republican for Monday, November 13, 1916. Record Cold.
 

The weather a century ago definitely isn't what we're experiencing this year.

1917


The USS Wyoming becomes  Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman's, Commander Battleship Division 9, flagship. Attribution:  On This Day.


 
Dust storm in Colorado, 1935.

1918 Pondering the Post War World. . .hit and miss. . . the news of November 13, 1918.

On this mid week of 1918 (this paper was published on a Wednesday) the Wyoming State Tribune was pondering the post war world with some optimism.

Not all of which would prove warranted.

First we'll note, however, that the depiction of Germany's new borders was spot on, showing once again how remarkably accurate these World War One papers tended to be.  They weren't always, and this past week with rumors of the armistice arriving prematurely, and with additional rumors that Red German sailors who had in fact sabotaged their ships to some degree were going to come out fighting, they were off the mark more than a little. But by and large, they appear to be on in just about the same degree as modern papers tend to be.

But as to a post war economic boom. .  not so much.

In fact the end of the war brought on a mild recession that started this very year; 1918. That recession would continue on into 1919, when a recovery would be staged, but following that a severe recession hit in 1920 and lasted until 1921.  

Overall, both periods of recession were brief, and there were some oddities to them. The American recession of 1918 actually started in August, which is flat out bizarre when it is considered that the United States was really just getting fully committed to combat in the Great War at that time and that it was conscripting all the way through the end of the war, thereby creating labor shortages that were growing worse.  That a recession would hit should have been expected, but a rational expectation should have been that it would have hit in early 1919.  It didn't, and overall the first recession only lasted seven months.

The second much worse one hit in January 1920 and lasted until 1921. That one makes much more sense if we keep in mind that while the fighting ended, the war technically went on into 1919 and the United States continued to maintain and supply a large overseas army that was on occupation duty that entire time.  Indeed, combat troops finally left Europe in September 1919 but an occupation force of 16,000 U.S. troops based out of Coblenz remained in Germany until 1923.  And somewhat forgotten, while the fighting had ended in France and Belgium, it continued on in Russia where a U.S. commitment remained until fully withdrawn on April 1, 1920. 

Of course, this has an expression in what we was called the Jazz Age.  No era of any kind every has a clean break from one to another, but in this case the effects of the war in various ways lingered through the first recession until the lid really came off and the post war world set in which gave us the Roaring Twenties/Jazz Age, which continued on until the crash of October 1929.  The Jazz Age, in a lot of ways, was the preamble to the 1960s, brought to an abrupt end by the economic realities of the Great War.

In Wyoming, as is so often the case, the national economy didn't really follow the path of the national one.  The oil boom of the Great War came to a screeching halt with the end of the war.  Oil production and refining of course went on, and the conversion of Casper Wyoming from a minor oil town into a significant oil city, was permanent.  But a local recession was inevitable with the end of the war.

Amplifying that recession was a general recession in the agricultural sector as a whole.  Massive demands for meat, wool, leather, and grain came to a rapid end, and with it came an agricultural depression that lasted through the economic recovery and on into the next recession.  1919, in fact, was the last year in American history in which farm families shared economic parity with urban families.

So the paper got that one wrong.  But its map of post war Germany was quite right.  The rest of the new European map had yet to be worked out through the process of the Versailles Treaty and local effort in new nations, to include the effort of new wears that erupted following the collapse of empires in the Great War, but that process was going on at the very time this paper was printed.

Holland didn't really treat the deposed Kaiser Wilhelm II like any other interned German officer.  He became a permanent exiled resident who never did come to see his removal as justified or his actions as questionable.  He'd die there during World War Two.

And while the paper gave a positive prognosis on the news that Theodore Roosevelt was in the hospital but would recover, the old lion wasn't himself anymore.

1933   "(MONDAY)  UNITED STATES: The first dust storm of the great dust bowl era of the 1930s occurs. The dust storm, which has spread from Montana to the Ohio Valley yesterday, prevails from Georgia to Maine resulting in a black rain over New York and a brown snow in Vermont. Parts of South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa reported zero visibility yesterday. Today, dust reduces the visibility to half a mile (805 meters) in Tennessee. (Jack McKillop)"  Attribution:  The WWII History List.

1941  The United States Congress amends the Neutrality Act of 1935 to allow American merchant ships access to war zones.

1942     The minimum draft age was lowered from 21 to 18.

1943  The state penitentiary receives a contract for 8,000 U.S. Army blankets.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

Monday, November 11, 2013

November 11. Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day in the United States.

Today is Remembrance Day in Canada, and similar holidays in many other countries.


Today is also Polish Independence Day, commemorating the restoration of Polish independence on this day in 1918.
Today is also the Memorial of St. Martin of Tours, 316-397, the Patron Saint of Horsemen.

St. Martin, it should be noted, had been a Roman officer, albeit a reluctant one, who took up that position due to the insistence of his family.  He's famously depicted on horseback, giving his cloak to a naked figure he encountered en route.  He left the Roman military to become a priest, and ultimately became a Bishop.

St. Martin's feast day used to be celebrated in Poland in a manner which included baking horseshoe cookies "for his horse".  The recipe:

INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup confectioners' (powdered) sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats, uncooked
Makes three dozen cookies.

Cream butter or margarine; add sugar gradually while continuing to cream; beat until fluffy. Stir in vanilla, flour, and salt. Blend in rolled oats. Roll out about 1/4 inch thick on lightly floured board. Cut in strips 6 inches long and 1/2 inch wide. On ungreased cookie sheets shape strips to resemble horseshoes. Bake at 325° for 20 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

1620 Pilgrims execute the Mayflower Compact, one of the founding charters of American democracy.

The original document has not survived, but several early copies have.  There are slight differences in spelling and punctuation, but basically the text reads as follows:
In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, defender of the Faith, etc.
Having undertaken, for the Glory of God, and advancements of the Christian faith and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.
In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, 1620.[

1817  Francisco Xavier Mina and 25 compatriots executed at Fort San Gregorio for insurrection.

1864  The Lincoln Mining District, the first mining district near South Pass, organized. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1865  The U.S. Army renamed Fort Connor to Fort Reno in honor of Major General Jesse L. Reno.

1886  George W. Baxter assumes the office of Territorial Governor.  He resigned on December 20 of the same year.  Given his very brief stint as Territorial Governor, questions would have to be raised as to whether or not he wanted the job, or simply agreed to take it at the request of President Cleveland, who was then in office and who had removed F. E. Warren.

On the same day, Francis E. Warren stepped down as Territorial Governor at the request of President Cleveland.   Questions regarding dealings with a Cheyenne Wyoming businessman caused his resignation, but his reputation would prove intact, and he would resume the position in 1889, and keep it until 1890 when became Wyoming's first elected State Governor.  He went on to become a US Senator from November 1890 until 1893, and then again until his death on November 24, 1929.  He was John J. Pershing's father in law.

1890  The Wyoming Supreme Court meets for the first time.

1918  On this day, Ninety years ago, World War One ended.  The Armistice became effective at 11:00.  Since hostilities had commenced in 1914, 9,000,000 soldiers had died in action, 21,000,000 had been wounded, and many additional soldiers civilians had died due to the direct and indirect consequences of the war, not the least of which was the unleashing of the Spanish Flu in military camp conditions, which would claim more lives than combat had.  The German, Russian and Austro-Hungarian Empires had been destroyed with no real ability for a successful popular democratic ideal to take root in those nations, which fell into turmoil.  Communism and similar movements, previously occupying the fringe of the Socialist left, filled in the vacuum resulting in violent revolution in various localities including Russia and Germany, achieving power in Russia and failing to do so in Germany, which was none the less left in turmoil.  New nations, such as Poland, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia were born, or resumed their positions on the map after having not had them for centuries.  The German Imperial Army, refusing to go down with the Kaiser, had effectively arranged for his surrender of power and fully assumed the status of a power unto itself, with grave consequences for the future.  Japan, ascendant since the late 19th Century, had seized territory in the East as an Allied power.  Ireland had gone into revolution over the issue of conscription, and the UK was left with a guerrilla war in Ireland.  The Ottoman Empire had collapsed and Turkey was born, with the war against Turkey still going on.  The former Ottoman possession in the Middle East were now European territories.  The United States, which had sat on the fence of world power status for decades, briefly assumed that role, and then retreated from it. The Dominions of Canada and Australia had entered the war as confirmed dominions and left it much more independent nations.  In spite of the inconclusive results, to some extent, and the views later  held in later eras, the war was regarded as worthwhile and a victory in the English speaking world at this time.

In Wyoming, World War One had caused a very significant economic boom which very much predated the US entry into the war.  Starting in 1914, British Remount agents scoured the United States for suitable military horses, purchasing thousands, and causing a horse boom in Wyoming which lasted throughout the war, as the US later began to do the same.  Cattle prices also rose as the demand for meat rose due to the war.  Homesteading received its last great boom, which would peak in 1919, the last year that the American farmer achieved economic parity with the urban middle class.

Oil exploration massively accelerated during the wear, causing towns like Casper to boom, and which resulted in Casper's first "sky scraper", the Oil Exchange Building, now the Consolidated Royalty Building.  



The boom would not last, and an economic recession began to set in during 1919.  This is further examined in our companion site, Lex Anteinternet.


The day became a holiday in many countries following World War One, and is recalled today under a variety of names.  It is a Federal holiday in the Unites States, being known as Veterans' Day, having come to honor American veterans of all wars.

Some poetry from the last war to inspire a fair amount of important poetry, but which speaks to all wars.

In Memoriam

by Ewart Alan Mackintosh (who himself was killed in action).

(Private D Sutherland killed in action in the German trenches, 16 May 1916, and the others who died.)

So you were David's father,
And he was your only son,
And the new-cut peats are rotting
And the work is left undone,
Because of an old man weeping,
Just an old man in pain,
For David, his son David,
That will not come again.

Oh, the letters he wrote you,
And I can see them still,
Not a word of the fighting,
But just the sheep on the hill
And how you should get the crops in
Ere the year get stormier,
And the Bosches have got his body,
And I was his officer.

You were only David's father,
But I had fifty sons
When we went up in the evening
Under the arch of the guns,
And we came back at twilight -
O God! I heard them call
To me for help and pity
That could not help at all.

Oh, never will I forget you,
My men that trusted me,
More my sons than your fathers',
For they could only see
The little helpless babies
And the young men in their pride.
They could not see you dying,
And hold you while you died.

Happy and young and gallant,
They saw their first-born go,
But not the strong limbs broken
And the beautiful men brought low,
The piteous writhing bodies,
They screamed 'Don't leave me, sir',
For they were only your fathers
But I was your officer.

And my favorite, In Flanders Fields, by Canadian John McCrae, who died of the Influenza Epidemic during the war, while serving in France.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

World War One Ends. November 11, 1918, 1100 (0400 MST).


"To Our Hero's".  Cemetery Wall in Paris, France.  France's contribution to the Allied victory in World War One surpasses that of any other Allied nation. . .something you'd sometimes not realize if you only read the English language accounts of the war.  MKTH photograph.

On this date in 1918, the Great War came to an end.*




Usually such posts are highly retrospective, and I suppose this one will be to a degree, but not in the "oh what a terrible waste" fashion that so many of them are.  The "Oh, What A Lovely War" view of the war popularized by the posthumous post World War Two publication of Siegfried Sassoon's poetry is largely baloney.**  In reality, the view taken earlier, that Germany was a horrible world menace on the European stage ruled by its military and a few autocrats who cared little about the rivers of blood they were spilling in order to impose Germany's imperial will on Europe is much closer to reality.


Indeed, its telling that in order to being the peace about, it had to occur in the context of a German revolution.  That revolution threatened for a time to make former Imperial Germany into a communist Soviet state, and put the new provisional government in the position of having to put down a left wing revolution.  That alignment, and the unrepentant view of Germany's hard right and its military would guaranty a second war, not the supposedly "harsh" terms of the Versailles Treaty.  A hard won victory, therefore, would not bring lasting peace, but that too really isn't for the reasons so often cited.



Indeed, had the provisions of the Versailles Treaty been more strictly enforced, World War Two would not have come about.  And had the conditions of the treaty been arrived upon more quickly, when Germans had no choice but to admit that they'd been fully defeated on the battlefield and the revolution only saved Germany from the Allies entering German soil in action, as they did in 1945, the excuse that the treaty became would not have occurred.  And the treaty did become a German excuse, and the "stabbed in the back" myth would arise, but more than anything it was the smashing of the Old Order that brought about the second war.



But was the collapse of the imperial order in nations that had not moved sufficiently towards democratic rule as populations moved from rural peasantry towards industrial laborers that really created the mess that would result in World War Two.



Almost every European nation had faced this in some fashion, but some had handled it much better.  Nations like Germany, Austro Hungaria, and Russia, however, had not.  Indeed, they'd not only failed to accommodate the new world of a more educated working class, but in Germany's case they'd actually arrived upon an autocratic imperial state late.  Nations like France and Germany, in contrast, had moved more and more towards real democratic rule much earlier, and therefore the forces that would gather in the vacuum of the demise of the Old Order would not impact them in the same degree, or indeed in the democratic UK, at all.


In nations like Germany, Russia and (for WWI Allied) Japan, however, the demise of the Old Order would create a vacuum that would be filled by a vicious extreme forces, communistic or fascistic in nature, that opposed democratic rule and glorified martial violence.  In some places those forces would oppose any hint at restoring the Old Order, as in Russia, in others they'd co-opt elements of it, as in Italy.  In all such places, the result was to bring about disaster in every form.


When that war came, much of what the world had become acclimated to in the First World War would play out in horrific fashion.  And much of that can be blamed on Germany, which had often acted just as barbarously in the Great War as they were to act in World War Two.

Germany had in large measure brought that defeat in the Great War upon itself.  While people like to look back for some reason and imagine the Germany military of World War One and World War Two as hyper competent, quite the opposite was often true.  While the Spring 1918 offensive was absolutely brilliant, Germany's dithering with the collapse of Russia guaranteed that a million men it desperately need on the Western Front would not be available.  If Germany was stabbed in the back, it's own autocratic class and military leadership did the stabbing, as Germany set about advancing in a country it had already defeated and had helped push into civil war.  It acted as if it had won the war, when in fact it had not.

Officers of the newly crated Third Army which was formed in France too late to see combat, but which would go on to occupation duty in Germany.

Of course the arms of the Western Allies cannot be ignored in that role. The ability of the British to rebound in the face of the 1918 offensive was magnificent, even if the common British view that they seemingly won the war on their own is exaggerated.  The long suffering French deserve huge credit for the defense of their own country and carrying the war through to the end, which included the contribution of Marshall Foch whose coordinating the efforts of the Allies was a monumentally difficult task.

Drafted inductees into the U.S. Army, Los Angeles California, November 11, 1918. The U.S. continued to draft right up until the end of the war.  I don't know what happened to men brought in this late.

And the US deserves much more credit than it is typically given by non American historians even if its military leadership deserves much more criticism than American ones will give it.  The surprising ability of the U.S. to create a 4,000,000 man Army in just over a year's time, and to deploy 2,000,000 of them to France (and Italy) was a stunning achievement.  The individual fighting qualities of the American soldier were also hugely impressive, although much of that was due to the soldier being very green and, frankly, poorly lead.

Paris crowd, November 11, 1918.

The U.S. Army, in fact, was committed to action in a manner that was to prove wasteful of lives as the American leadership persisted in the belief that there were no lessons to be learned from the Allies.  The American effort was only able to get away with this as the Army was thrown into action at a time when massive force was likely to prevail against the Germans, even if it proved to be hugely costly.  Indeed, real questions should be raised as to why the American leadership continued to persist in this fashion when even the very early efforts demonstrated how bloody such actions would be, even if the American willingness to endure the bloodshed, much like the Union's willingness to endure it in the latter half of the Civil War, guaranteed that an Allied victory would occur.***

American Red Cross works gathering in London for a parade, November 11, 1918, in honor of the war's end.

And it did so bring it about, even if it did not do so single-handedly.  That sacrifice should not be forgotten.

_________________________________________________________________________________

*Before anyone points it out, yes I know that a state of war continued on until the execution of the Versailles Treaty, or even later if you consider that the US had to declare the war to be over unilaterally after the U.S. refused to enter into the treaty.  Indeed, I've already been "corrected" on that once.

Well, whatever, but the war ended on this day. Germany wasn't going back to fighting under any circumstances, and couldn't, after entering into the Armistice on this day.

**The morose British war poet view of the war is largely a post World War Two view of it that reflects more than anything the state of the British mind following World War Two, which left Britain with an empire that it obviously was going to leave and with an utterly wrecked economy.

***The U.S. Navy, on the other hand, was really effectively commanded in the Great War and contributed enormously to a reduction of the effectiveness of German submarines.  It's role, however, is largely forgotten.

Postscript

This day is also marked as Polish independence day, although it would be just as easy to pick a date several weeks earlier and indeed would perhaps be more accurate as various Polish political bodies had declared independence from Russia and Germany by this time.

There are several sad deaths often noted about the day.  Augustin Trebuchon was the last French soldier to die in the war.  He was 40 years old and had joined the French Army in August, 1914.  A shepherd by trade, he'd fought the entire war.  He had occupied the role of messenger throughout the war and knew that an agreement had been signed even when his unit went into action that morning, committed to an attack even with the knowledge that peace was likely to be soon agreed upon.  That battle went on until 6:00 p.m., a good seven hours after the armistice had been signed, when the unit received word that the fighting had ended.  French officials originally recorded his death as November 10, as they were embarrassed to admit that they had been fighting when peace was imminent.

George Lawrence Price was the last Canadian soldier killed.  The 25 year old private originally from Nova Scotia was killed in a small unit action by a German sniper when they were reconnoitering some Belgian houses and discovered German machinegunners.  He'd come into the Canadian army as a conscript the prior year, having been conscripted from his then home in Saskatchewan.

Private George Edwin Ellison was the last British soldier killed.  The British cavalryman, age 40, had served for a time as a per war soldier and had been recalled into his old unit, the 5th Royal Irish Lancers, in 1914.

Charles I, the Austro Hungarian Emperor, announced he would give up the Austrian crown.  He would do the same in regards to Hungary two days later.  He never actually abdicated in hopes he'd be recalled.  He wasn't.

Counter campaigns against Dutch socialist occured in the Hague.

British, Canadian and American troops, numbering about 600, engaged with a Red Army force of 2,500 at Tulgas, where the Armistice had no effect.  About 1/2 the force were Americans.  The combined unit had been attacked but after two days launched an Assault, 20th Maine at Gettysburg style, and drove the much larger Red unit back.  Red Army casualties nearly exceeded the number of men total in the Allied force.

1919  Armistice Day, 1919.
Today was the first Armistice Day, now converted into Veteran's Day, in U.S. history.  It came, of course, one year after the Armistice that had brought about an end to the fighting on the Western front in November, 1918.

Plans had been made in advance to celebrate the day, which of course was celebrated around the country.


In Central Wyoming the day's events were muted by the arrival of snow.


Which makes the day in 2019 a nice bookend.  Snow again.

In Washington, the Prince of Wales was visiting and marked the day, which was likewise being celebrated in English speaking countries around the world.



1921 Warren G. Harding dedicated the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.


On this day in 1921 the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was dedicated in Arlington National Cemetery.  I noted that on our companion blog, Today In Wyoming's History, quite some time ago, but the photo below, of Chief Plenty Coups, whom I discussed on November 8, is a new addition here.



Also noting the tragedy of the Great War, today was the first day in which the Royal British Legion sold poppies in remembrance of the war.  This tradition still goes on in the United Kingdom and also in Canada.  When I was a kid, it occurred here in the form of artificial "bloody poppies" that were sold by one of the two veterans organizations, although I forget which one  I dimly recall it was the VFW, but I could be in error.

Harding gave a speech, as noted, at the event, which was transmitted nationwide by telephone wires by AT&T.

A photographer played with black and while film to capture this image at 10:30 that evening.


The war with Germany officially ended on this day, not coincidentally, as the US and Weimar Germany officially recognized the peace.   Germany also was reaching out to the Soviet Union with the formation of Deruluft, a joint German Russian airline.  It operated until 1937.

The New York Bible Society presented a bible to the conference meeting in Washington on arms limitation.


1924  George Carr Frison, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Wyoming born in Worland Wyoming.

1926  Plans for U.S. Highway 30, replacing the Lincoln Highway but generally along the same route, finalized.

1930  Clarence Don Clark, Wyoming's U.S. Congressman from 1890 to 1893, and US Senator from Wyoming from 1895 to 1917, died. 
 

1940  Willys introduces their variant of the Jeep for the Army's competition for a light 4x4 vehicle.  The very unstable dangerous little 4x4 car would enter into civilian production post war as the CJ2, the first really light commercially offered 4x4 truck (and a highly dangerous one).  4x4s would feature prominently in a revolution in accessibility to the Wyoming back-country post World War Two.

 https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh61ptc3-_y4h_D1yjF4LscPoLaFRD6GdGE4Hr_oWOVVWX4P3yrzso5On9df_kB67tJFLfxxBoAbpm-FJYeu6Fe6xHdYXw1M45vHk1CnFr63XAaZQtdIQ98bKqDm5QVGIBo3X4xNIpR58Q/s1600/1-22-2012_005.JPG
1958 M38A1, the military version of the same Jeep that was known as the CJ5.

1940  Here's an unusual item, although not a Wyoming one, that shows us, in part, how much things have changed even in regards to weather reports. We're so used to relatively accurate ones now, we don't recall the days when the weather was often a real surprise.  We should note that this winter event did stretch out across the plains to Wyoming, even though it didn't have the devastating impact here that it did in Iowa.

Iowa's 1940 Armistice Day blizzard.

 Image


1942 Congress lowered the age of conscription to 18 and raised the upper limit to age 37.

1943  The Commander of the Prisoner of War Camp in Douglas announced that 1,000 Italians held at the camp would be helping with the fall harvest. Given the timing of the announcement, it would have to be presumed that the harvest was well underway at the time.  As Douglas itself is not in a farming belt, it would be interesting to know where the POWs actually went, and how they were housed.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

Thursday, November 11, 1943. Armistace Day.

It was Armistice Day for 1943.

Japanese American Girl Scouts walking in front of barracks and carrying American flags while incarcerated at Heart Mountain concentration camp, Wyoming, 11/11/43.

1950  A DC-3 belonging to a religious missionary organization hit Mount Moran in dense cloud cover, killing all 21 people on board.  The impact was nearly direct, and nothing from the plane could be recovered, including the bodies of the victims, all of whom remain on Mount Moran.

1954  November 11 designated as Veterans Day to honor veterans of all U.S. wars.  This was due in part to the efforts of Alvin J. King of Emporia Kansas.