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.

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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.

December 24

 Today is the day of the Christmas Vigil (Christmas Eve) in the Christian world.
 Aðfangadagskvöld, the day when the 13th and the last Yule Lad arrives to towns, in Iceland.
 Feast of the Seven Fishes in Italy.
 Jul in Denmark and Norway.
 Nochebuena in Spanish-speaking countries.

1809.  Christopher "Kit" Caron born in Kentucky.  Raised in Missouri, he would have an amazing career as a frontiersmen in the West, including Wyoming.  He is one of those fellows who seems to have been everywhere, and at the right time.

1814     The War of 1812 officially ended as the United States and Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent.  Fighting continued, as news in the 19th Century traveled slowly.

1826   The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy begins that night, wrapping up the following morning.

1851     Fire devastated the Library of Congress destroying about 35,000 volumes.

1859  First known lighting of a Christmas Tree in Wyoming occurs, near Glenrock. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1868  A. J. Faulk, Territorial Governor of Dakota Territory, approved of act incorporating Cheyenne.

1922  Sunday, December 24, 1922. Christmas Eve, 1922.

Normally I post these matters in chronological order, oldest to newest, but I missed something here of interest, that being the death of Sgt. John Martin.

Sgt. Martin, circa 1904.

Martin was a career soldier in the U.S. Army who is remembered today as the 7th Cavalry trumpeter who was assigned by George A. Custer to deliver a message to Frederic Benteen, to the effect of:

Benteen.

Come On. Big Village. Be quick. Bring Packs.

P.S. Bring packs. W.W. Cooke

The message delivered to Benteen, from Custer, had been reduced to writing by Custer's adjacent, W. W. Cooke probably because Benteen didn't trust Martin to be able to accurately convey the message, given his heavy Italian accent.  Martin had been born Giovanni Martino.

Martino had started off in life roughly, being born in 1852 in Salerno and being delivered to an orphanage just days after his birth.  He served as a teenage drummer under Garibaldi, joining that revolutionary force at age 14.  He immigrated to the United States at age 21 and joined the U.S. Army, serving as a trumpeter.  He was temporarily detailed to Custer's command on the date of the fateful Little Big Horn battle, and therefore received the assignment that would take him away from disaster somewhat randomly.

He married an Irish immigrant in 1879, and together they had five children.  He served in the Spanish American War, and retired from the Army in 1904, having served the required number of years in order to qualify for a retirement at that time.  Note that this meant he'd served, at that time, thirty years.  Following that, his family operated a candy store in Baltimore.  In 1906, for reasons that are unclear, he relocated to Brooklyn, seemingly to be near one of his daughters, working as a ticket agent for the New York subway.  The relocation meant a separation from his wife, which has caused speculation as to the reasons for it, but he traveled back to Baltimore frequently.  That job wore him down, and he took a job as a watchman for the Navy Yard in 1915.  His sons followed his footsteps and entered the Army.

In December 1922 he was hit by a truck after work and died from his injuries on this day.

All in all, this presents an interesting look into the day.  Martin was an adult when he immigrated in 1873, and found work in an occupation that readily took in immigrants, the military, and doing what he had done in Garibaldi's forces before, acting as a musician.  His marriage was "mixed", of a sort, with the common denominator being that he and his wife were both Catholics.  In spite of retiring from the Military after long service, he continued to need to be employed, at jobs that at the time were physically demanding.

And of interest, when his life, long under the circumstances, was cut short, he was a veteran of Little Big Horn living during the jazz age.

1944   All beef products are again being rationed. New quotas are introduced for most other commodities as well.

1983  Recluse Wyoming sees -51F.  Echeta, -54F.