Some Gave All: Blog Mirror: A Wyoming ranch hand went missing am...

Some Gave All: Blog Mirror: A Wyoming ranch hand went missing am...:

Blog Mirror: A Wyoming ranch hand went missing amid one of the great disasters of U.S. Army history igniting a decades long effort to find him.

A remarkable story from the Casper Star Tribune:

A Wyoming ranch hand went missing amid one of the great disasters of U.S. Army history igniting a decades long effort to find him.

Sidebar: Wyoming and the Korean War

The Korean War is something that most Wyomingites don't particularly associate with our state, but the war did have a noticeable impact on the state, and Korea has been in the news a lot recently, so now might be a good time to take a look at it.

 Official painting of the Wyoming Army National Guard depicting Wyoming's 300th AFA in action.

Part of the reason that we don't think much of the Korean War and Wyoming, is that we don't think much about the Korean War at all.  The Korean War is one of several wars that have been tagged "forgotten wars" and, in the case of Korea, it's really true.  Perhaps that was inevitable, coming between World War Two and the Vietnam War, as it did.

Wyoming's role in the Korean War is tied closely to the the decline in the Army's conventional war fighting abilities that followed World War Two.  The largest war ever fought, World War Two was the largest conventional conflict of all time but it ended with the use of two nuclear weapons.  Given that, the immediate assumption by the American military was that the age of conventional warfare had ended and that any future war, of any kind, would be a nuclear war.  The Army was allowed to atrophy as a result.  Between 1945, when World War Two ended, and 1950, when the Korean War started, the Army's training in conventional warfare dramatically declined.

An end to conventional warfare turned out to be a massively erroneous assumption, and the place we learned that was in Korea.

That the US would fight a war in Korea was something that, moreover, seemed an impossibility in 1945, when events took us there for the first time in the 20th Century.  The US had actually fought in Korea once before, but in the 19th Century, oddly enough, when the Marine Corps landed briefly in Korean in an obscure punitive expedition.  It was World War Two, however that brought the US back onto the Korean Peninsula, but only due to the end of the war.

Korea itself had been a Japanese possession since 1910, when the Japanese simply made a fact out of what had been the case following the Russo Japanese War.  Korea had been more or less independent prior to that, but heavily influenced by its much more powerful neighbors.  The Russo Japanese War effectively ended Korean independence in favor of the Japanese.  The Japanese dominance was not a happy thing for the Koreans.  Korea remained a Japanese possession up until after World War Two, when it was jointly occupied by the United States and the Soviet Union, splitting the country in half.  The US had no intention to remain there but the original concept of uniting the country in a democratic process fell apart, and the Soviets and the US left with the country divided.  The US had weakly armed the South and failed to provide it with heavy weapons. The North, on the other hand, was heavily armed and trained by the Soviets, who left the North with the means, and likely the plan, on how to unite the peninsula by force.  In 1950, North Korea invaded the South with a well equipped and well trained Army.  They faced a poorly trained South Korean Army.

Soon after that they, quite frankly, faced a poorly trained American Army.  The US hadn't really given much thought to South Korea after leaving it, but the fall of China, followed by the Berlin Blockade, followed by shocking early revelations about Soviet espionage inside the US, followed by the development of the Soviet bomb, suddenly refocused attention on a country that now seemed to be a dagger aimed at Japan.  President Truman made the immediate decision to send the U.S. Army into South Korea to turn the North Koreans back.

That Army, however, wasn't the same Army the US had in 1945 after the defeat of Germany and Japan.  After VJ Day the U.S. had rapidly demobilized.  Moreover, convinced that all future wars would be nuclear in nature, the U.S. had let the Army deteriorate markedly.  It was poorly trained and not all that well equipped in some ways.

The intervention in South Korea required the call up of numerous Army National Guard units, and Wyoming's 300th Armored Field Artillery was one of them. Deployed in February 1951, the unit made up of young recruits from northern Wyoming and World War Two veterans proved to be a very effective one.  It achieved a fairly unique status in May 1951 at Soyang with the unit directly engaged advancing enemy infantry, a very rare event in modern combat and a risky one at any time.  The unit came out of the Korean War with Presidential and Congressional Unit Citations in honor of its fine performance in the war.  The individual Guardsmen of the 300th AFA largely came home after completing a combat tour, at a little over a year, but the called up unit remained in service throughout the war.  Other Wyoming Army National Guard units were also called up in this time, but only the 300th AFA was sent to the Korean War.

The Air National Guard's 187th Fighter Bomber Squadron from Wyoming was called up. The new Air Guard saw combat service for the first time in the Korean War.  Nine Wyoming F51 pilots were lost serving in the unit during the war.

Of course, many Wyomingites served in the war by volunteering for military service, or by being conscripted during the war.  Like earlier wars, Wyomingites volunteered in high numbers.

September 27

1821  Mexico obtains independence from Spain.

1886  Cornerstone of Old Main placed at the University of Wyoming.   Attribution:  On This Day.

1916   The Wyoming National Guard, what was it doing and where was it going?

I posted this item two years ago on the Mid Week at Work Thread.  It occurs to me that it may very well be appropriate for the Wyoming National Guard was going through in Cheyenne these few days, a century ago:

Mid-Week at Work: U.S. Troops in Mexico.

All around the water tank, waiting for a train
A thousand miles away from home, sleeping in the rain
I walked up to a brakeman just to give him a line of talk
He said "If you got money, boy, I'll see that you don't walk
I haven't got a nickel, not a penny can I show
"Get off, get off, you railroad bum" and slammed the boxcar door

He put me off in Texas, a state I dearly love
The wide open spaces all around me, the moon and the stars up above
Nobody seems to want me, or lend me a helping hand
I'm on my way from Frisco, going back to Dixieland
My pocket book is empty and my heart is full of pain
I'm a thousand miles away from home just waiting for a train.

Jimmy Rodgers, "Waiting for a Train".

As can be seen from my entry yesterday, there's some indication the Guard entrained on September 26, 1916.  And I've reported that elsewhere, years ago.  And maybe some did leave on September 26, but I now doubt it.

Rather, in looking at it more fully, the typical Army hurry up and wait seems to have been at work.  The Guard was supposed to entrain on September 26, but the cars didn't show up or didn't in adequate numbers.  It appears, also, that the Colorado National Guard was entraining at the same time, and that may have played a role in this.  Be that as it may, I now think the September 26 date that I have used, and others do use, in in error.

What seems to have happened is that most of the Guardsmen entrained on the night of September 27, late.

But where were they going?

That will play out here as well, but original reports in these papers said they were going to San Antonio. Then it was reported that nobody knew where they were going.

Well, they went to Deming New Mexico, which isn't far from where this all started off, in Columbus.

Rodgers didn't record Waiting For A Train until 1928, and he wasn't recording in 1916.  Too bad, this would have been a popular song with those troops.

The Cheyenne State Leader for September 27, 1916: Best laid plans?
 

The past couple of days the papers were reporting that the Guard would leave on September 26, but here the Cheyenne State Leader indicates that there's been some sort of delay, and the Guard was going to be leaving that day.

Did anyone leave?  Frankly, I"m not sure. The few sources I have aren't consistent.  Some report the first contingent did leave on September 26.  But this would suggest otherwise.

Elsewhere workers were discontent, and Greece appeared ready to enter World War One.

1918  The Meuse Argonne, the Sacrifice of Col. Cavendar and the Spanish Flu. The news of September 27, 1918.

Death in various forms had front and center position on the newspapers of September 27.

Of course, the big offensive on the Meuse Argonne, the second really major American offensive and the one that would carry the American effort through to the end of the war, took front and center position.  In that readers of the various major Wyoming newspapers learned that a Col. J. W. Cavendar, a Wyoming attorney in peacetime life, had been reported killed in action while leading the 148th Field Artillery, which was a unit made up of Wyoming National Guardsmen in part, together with other National Guardsmen from the Rocky Mountain Region.

Col Cavendar's loss also appeared on the front page of the Laramie Boomerang.

Manpower shortages also did with the news that the government wanted men out of jobs that women could do.

So much for the claim that Rosey the Riveter first appeared in World War Two.

The more sedate Cheyenne State Leader apparently didn't have the news about Col Cavendar when it went to press.  It featured the largest headline on the looming flu crisis, which really says something about it given that this was day two of the largest American offensive of the war.  The Leader also informed readers that if they died, they better not expect a fancy casket.

In Casper, readers of the Casper Daily Press received a lot of war news, and other news, on its busy front page, but it also learned that the flu was now in New Mexico's military camps, contrary to the news that generally had it only on the East Coast.  And it received the most prominent position on front page here as well.

The Casper Daily Tribune didn't worry about being sedate, and apparently it wasn't as worried as the other Casper paper about the flu.  The advance of the American effort, which in truth was already meeting with problems, brought out banner headlines.

Readers were also informed that Chile was getting into action against the Huns, rather late in the day frankly, which is how such things tend to go.  And the pipe dream of a return of the Russians to the Allied side also showed up in large form.

1923  Thirty railroad passengers were killed when a CB&Q train wrecked at the Cole Creek Bridge, which had been washed out due to a flood, in Natrona County.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

 

It was a horrific event.

Flooding had taken out the railroad bridge over Cole Creek near Casper, Wyoming, which was unknown to the railroad.   The night train to Denver approached the bridge on a blind curve, and the headlights detected its absence too late to stop the train.  Half of the people on the train were killed.

It's the worst disaster in Wyoming's railroad history.

1944 USS Natrona, a Haskell class attack transport, launched.

1954  The 300th AFA returned to State control, although the Wyoming Guardsmen had mostly returned quite some time ago, having served their full tour of duty.

1991   Quintin Blair House in Cody added to the National Register of Historic Places. Attribution:  On This Day.

1998  Google starts operation.

2001  A magnitude 4.3 earthquake occurred 80 miles from Lander. 

August 19

1854  Lt. John L. Grattan, 6th U.S. Infantry, and thirty of his men are killed by Sioux Indians at at location on the Oregon Trail not far from Ft. Laramie, WY.  The fight is regarded as sort of an early Western Plains Indian fight and an indication of things to come.  The entire episode was over a cow belonging to a Mormon Oregon Trail emigrant which had been taken by one of the Sioux and killed. The Sioux had offered reparations in the form of the emigrant's choice of a horse out of the Indian herd which had been refused.  Grattan, who had lead a detachment to the Sioux camp the following day, handled the matter very poorly and things got out of hand, whereupon a shots were fired by the soldiers and returned by the much more numerous Sioux.  Grattan's entire command of 30 soldiers was killed in the battle to the loss of one Sioux, Conquering Bear, who was the Sioux chief of the band in question, and who was likely killed with the very first shot of the battle.  The Sioux made a token pass at Ft. Laramie the following day and then dispersed. The Army recalled William S. Harney from Paris in order to send him to the field with the 2d Dragoons as a result, but they did not take the field until the following August, an entire year later, giving an idea of the slowness of events in the 19th Century.

One of the less noted, but very notable, aspects of this story:  Rather than retaliating, the U.S. Army declared that Grattan had exceeded his authority. An explosive situation was not allowed to escalate, but the seeds of distrust and future violence had been sewn.  Gratten had handled the entire situation very badly.  But the Army, in its follow-up, was wise to regard his actions as improper, in spite of the disaster it was to his men.

1878   Robert Widdowfield and Union Pacific detective Tip Vincent killed in the line of duty by Big Nose George Parrott's gang near Elk Mountain.  Widdowfield and Vincent were attempting to apprehend the gang which had attempted to rob a train.

1898  Iron Post office established.  Attribution:  Wyoming Places.

1941  The Wyoming Aircraft School won approval from Civil Aeronautics Authority.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1942  The Evacuette, a newpaper of the North Portland Assembly Area, ran as a headline story that Japanese internees, the newspaper's audience, would be going to Wyoming.

1950  300th AFA, Wyoming Army National Guard, Federalized for service in the Korean War.

1953  First letters sent out in an effort to organize a Wyoming State Historical Society. Letter sent out by Lola Homsher. Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.

1998   The Manges Cabin in Grand Teton National Park, added to the National Registry of Historic Places.  Attribution:  On This Day.

2015   Lex Anteinternet: And the band played on. . .well maybe not so much

Earlier this week we ran this:

Lex Anteinternet: And the band played on: In Saturday's Tribune an article appeared noting, again, the loss of over 3,000 oil industry jobs in Wyoming, and a 50% reduction i...

Yesterday (August 19), however, Governor Mead sang a different tune, and one that wasn't nearly so rosy.  We have to given him credit for that.

Mead, in a press conference flaty stated that Wyoming is entering a "difficult period" and that the State may need to consider tapping into its "rainy day" funds. For those who might not be aware of what those are, they're funds that the state specifically puts aside for stressed times.

Governors do not, to my recollection, ever suggest this. That's truly a dramatic statement for a sitting Governor, indicating just how dire the state's condition may be.  That Mead would suggest considering it speaks very much in his favor, as this has tended to be something that simply isn't discussed.  Reactions to the Governor's speech have been generally favorable, although there's no present support for actually tapping into the funds.  Mead, of course, wasn't requesting to do so right now, only indicating that it might become necessary.

2017   Casper Eclipse Festival: August 19-21, 2017. And a note on the Eclipse in general.

 Newly opened Casper bar, The Gaslight Social.

As Casper was right in the center of the 2017 Solar Eclipse, it took advantage of the situation and had a three day festival to commemorate it.  The festival featured the openings, basically, of three new bars (or one bar/restaurant reopening, one new bar/restaurant and one new bar) and a new city feature, a downtown plaza.  It was well attended.

 Downtown revelers and a carriage.  Casper, unlike Fort Collins or even, occasionally, Denver, generally doesn't have horse drawn carriages downtown.

There were wildly varying predictions for the eclipse.  Frankly, I doubted some of them.  But maybe more of them came true than I would have guessed.

 Map showing where people had come from to view the eclipse.  Some of the locations were so surprising, I wonder if they were really true.

Over 1,000,000 people, according to the Star Tribune, entered the state during the eclipse.  Assuming that's correct, that means that the state's population tripled yesterday.  Having said that, it didn't appear to be the case that Casper's population more than doubled, as had been predicted.  I know that not all of the camping spots filled that had been predicted to, although perhaps many did.  I also know that people were camping right in the neighborhood, in front of people's houses that they knew.

This doesn't do this map justice.  There were visitors, according to the map, from Greenland, Ascension Island, and North Korea.  All quite surprising, if true.

Europe seemed pretty well represented.  I met one Irish visitor who had just left the Wonder Bar, which has a nice restaurant.  Apparently he hadn't realized that as he asked me and my son for directions to "a pub" so he could get something to eat.  He was surprised when I directed him back to the Wonder Bar.

 New downtown plaza.  I was skeptical that this would be complete on time.

It's not everyday you see a municipal judge on the guitar.

New downtown Rotary sidewalk clock.

 Picking up my trailer, which I had loaned out to friends

I'm included amongst those that had camping visitors.  Some good friends of mine were in town for the eclipse. They'd planned on staying in Gillette and driving down, but I loaned them my camp trailer and let them camp near our garden land. That became three couples by the time of the eclipse.  This land has never had residents, although the neighboring land does and has for quite some time, so I suppose its population increased from 0 to six.

Another old friend of mine drove up from Salt Lake to Riverton, where they also experienced an influx.  And I guess the Jackson Hole Airport received a huge  corporate jet boost.

Interesting event.

August 3

1823 Union General Thomas Francis Meagher, designer of the Irish tricolor, was born in Waterford, Ireland. Meagher studied law in Dublin and then became deeply involved in Young Ireland, a nationalistic organization that opposed British rule in Ireland. After participating in the Irish rebellion of 1848 (in a year that would see revolutions all over Europe) Meagher was convicted of high treason. Authorities commuted his death sentence to hard labor and exiled him to Tasmania. He escaped and made his way to New York City. He married into a prosperous merchant's family and became a leader within the Irish-American community. When the Civil War broke out, Meagher became a captain in the 68th New York militia, an Irish unit that became the nucleus of the Irish Brigade in the Army of the Potomac. He was successful as a commander in general, but his command suffered high casualty rates for which he was criticized. He resigned his commission in 1863 when Gen. Hooker refused his request to return to New York to raise new recruits. He returned to duty and served in the Army of the Tennessee in early 1865. After the war, President Andrew Johnson appointed Meagher secretary of Montana Territory. He at Fort Benton, Montana, on July 1, 1867, after falling from the deck of a riverboat on the Missouri River. His body was never recovered.

1867  Troops dispatched from Ft. Phil Kearny to establish Ft. C. F. Smith.

1869  Territorial Governor Campbell issued a proclamation that calling an election for delegates to Congress and members of the Wyoming Territorial Legislature. Attribution:  On This Day.

1886  The Johnson County Fair opened, making it the first fair held in the Territory.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1902  Stephen W. Downey, the "father of the University of Wyoming", died in Laramie. \

1916   The Cheyenne Leader for August 3, 1916: Wyoming still mustering its Guard.
 

There was a variety of grim news for this day which pretty much shoved it to the side, but Lyman Wyoming was hoping to be the home station for a new National Guard company being raised to go to the border.  The telling thing is, really, that Wyoming was still trying to come up to strength for border duty.

Railroad strikes, the Deutschland submarine, and the imminent execution of Roger Casement took precedence, however, in the day's news.

Vienna appears to have been a bit optimistic, we'd note.

1939  Seminoe Dam generates electricity for the first time. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1941   The first Annual Bondurant BBQ held at St. Hubert the Hunter Church, where it has happened every year since.  The 1941 date was in celebration of the dedication of the church.

1950 Congress removed the existing limitations on the size of the Army. The Army issued an involuntary recall of 30,000 enlisted men, mostly from the Volunteer and Inactive Reserve, to report in September.

July 22

1890  A marble quarry opened near Rawlins.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1894   The first ever motorized racing event is held in France between the cities of Paris and Rouen.

1897   The Hole In The Wall Fight between ruslters and ranchers happened near the Hole In The Wall.

1916  In San Francisco, a bomb at a Preparedness Day parade on Market Street kills ten people and wounds forty.

This item is particularly notable on this date in this current year, 2012 (when first posted), as we've just seen somewhat similar casualties in an act of violence in Denver Colorado.  In the 1916 event, the attack was no doubt politically motivated, but clearly by a person who had a complete disregard for human life.  In the Colorado act the disregard for human life is likewise evident, but it lacks even the cover of a political motivation which, at least, would provide the thin camouflage of deluded justification for such an act.

Now, in the US, there will be, and indeed already are, endless efforts to try to deduce the cause of the senseless act.  Was the perpetrator insane?  Was he motivated by some warped political or social goal? Was it the implements, and not the man, that was the cause.

None of this will serve in the end to reveal anything.  And next to none of it, if any of it, will address a simple fact which, in the modern world, is a fact that cannot be stated.

That fact is is that Evil is in the world, and some people are motivated by Evil.

That Evil is in the world should be self evident.  Hitler, Himmler, Stalin and a host of similar tyrants were not insane.  They were servants of evil.  Likewise, thousands of people in this era are simply evil.  Evil people have always been around. What hasn't always been around, however, is a denial that evil exists. And we're paying for it, and will continue to do so, until we realize that evil is an antiquated concept, but a reality.

1967  Cpt. William B. Graves shot down while piloting a OV-1C in Vietnam.

1922 Mount Moran ascended for the first time.  the climb was made by LeGrand Hardy, Bennet McNulty and Ben C. Rich of the Chicago Mountaineering Club via the Skillet Glacier route.

1937 The Senate rejected President Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court.

1942 US initiates gasoline rationing 

1950 The Department of the Army asked reserve officers to volunteer for active duty due to the Korean War.

1966  Six people were injured when a category two tornado struck Gillette.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1967   Capt. William B. Graves of Douglas is killed when his OV 1-C  Mohawk aircraft crashes in Vietnam.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

June 25

1868  President Andrew Johnson approved the act of Congress providing for the organization of a temporary government for the Territory of Wyoming.

1870  The first lots went on sale at the site of Evanston.  Attribution:  On This Day..

1876  The legendary Battle of the Little Big Horn occurs in south eastern Montana. On this date, in 1876, a large combined group of Cheyennes, Sioux, Arapaho and maybe even a few Metis, defeated an assault by the 7th Cavalry in southern Montana, resulting in the complete elimination of one prong of a split assault, and the retreat and desperate defense by two other elements of the command. The 7th's effort was part of a summer 1876 campaign on the northern plains, which had seen a the defeat of a combined unit of elements of the 2d & 3d Cavalry, 4th and 9th Infantry, and Crow and Shoshone scouts in southern Montana several days earlier. Both Plains Indians victories marked the high water mark, and the rapidly receding tide, of Indian power on the northern plains.

Little Big Horn is by far the most famous of American Indian battles, and almost defines them for the average person. It remains one of the most written about of all American historical events. It was a huge shock to the American psyche at the time, and resulted in the Army being expanded by 2,500 men for Plains service.

In terms of actual casualties, the 7th suffered about 52 percent casualties of the force that was deployed, in a battle that saw fighting at widely separated points, several miles distant, including 16 officers and 242 enlisted men killed. One officer and 51 enlisted men survived the battles with wounds. The battle is mostly remembered due to the fact that the every man in Custer's immediate command was killed, which makes up the bulk of the casualties. This may be a bit unfair, as it somewhat discounts the effective defense put up by Reno and Benteen's men in a separate location.

Of interest, 22% of the 7th Cavalry was detached prior to the expedition on other duties, a fairly common occurrence. 166 men and officers therefore were not present on the campaign, and missed the battle.

Some may wonder why I have included this even in a Wyoming daily history blog, as I included an item about Colorado's Sand Creek Massacre yesterday, but these are all regional events, which had an enormous impact on Wyoming at the time.  For the Indians in particular, the territorial borders did not exist.

1894  The first recorded earthquake in Wyoming, which occurred near Casper. The quake was violent enough to toss dishes, and even a few sleeping people, to the ground, and muddy the Platte.

1916   The Sunday State Leader for June 25, 1916: The prisoners of Carrizal
 

More news of the defeat at Carrizal, but happy news for Miss Ellen Smith.

The war in Europe was pushed completely off of the front page of this Sunday morning Cheyenne paper due to events in Mexico.

1919  June 25, 1919. The 148th In Cheyenne

The men of the 148th who remained in the service, as some had already been discharged on the East Coast, returned to Cheyenne to a rousing welcome.

In far off Russia, American solders were in action against the Reds.  At Romanovka American troops were ambushed but repelled a Red advance.

In New Jersey, the American Library Association was meeting.

American Library Association, Ashbury Park, New Jersey

The Presidio and Ft. Winfield Scott, San Francisco.

1923  Monday, June 25, 1923. Harding comes to Cheyenne and Laramie. The Ku Klux Klan came to Glenrock

The Tribune headlined with an auto accident that occurred in connection with Hardin's visit to Denver the day prior.

In Laramie, it was noted, but the focus was on his visit that would occur today.

He was stopped by Cheyenne as well, where the city gave him a cowboy hat, and he delivered a speech on the coal situation.

Glenrock had a different type of visitor:

The size of the demonstration is surprising.  I was not small.

The paper was silent on the lawlessness that concerned the Klan, but it was likely violations of Prohibition.  The KKK was a supporter of Prohibition.

1933 The Fort Bridger Historic Site dedicated.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1950  North Korea invades South Korea, an action which would result in the mobilization of Wyoming Army National Guard's 300th Armored Field Artillery.

April 1

1813  Spanish surrendered San Antonio to Mexican revolutionaries.

1867  Blacks voted in Colorado's state elections for the first time, and without incident.

1869  Reorganization of the U.S Army saw the 30th Infantry mereged with the 4th Infantry, impacting troops stationed in Wyoming.  On this day, the D Company's of both regiments were consolidated at Ft. D. A. Russell.  K Company of the 30th Infantry was consolidated with G Company of the 4th Infantry.

1887  Frank Canton became the chief stock detective for northern Wyoming.

1892  The New York Times reports that (large) Wyoming stockmen have launched a raid which would become known as the Johnson County War. This date is remarkable in that it predates the first assault of the war and shows how their plans had already broken as news even at the point the raid was just starting.  The New York Times article featured a headline that read:

OUT FOR WHOLESALE LYNCHINGS.; WYOMING CATTLEMEN ON A CAMPAIGN AGAINST THIEVES.

1915  Wyoming's Workers Compensation act goes into effect.  Attribution:  On This Day.

Workers Compensation fits into the category of economic news that most people find terminally dull, but this was a landmark in Wyoming's history.  The much maligned Workers Compensation system is actually highly unique and Wyoming was a very early adopter of this type of system.

An entirely state administered system, completely occupying the field, the system was modeled on the German workers compensation system which was the origin of the German national healthcare system.  Like the German system, Wyoming's makes the state the insurer of covered workers, rather than requiring employers to purchase private workers compensation insurance.  The system is also quasi judicial in nature, having an adjudicatory system for contested claims with a right of appeal to the state's court system.  

The system also directly impacts civil litigation in Wyoming, as it prohibits suits against employers where an employee has received benefits under the act.  Suits against co-employees are allowed, but only under a very heightened standard.

1917   The Cheyenne Sunday State Leader for April 1, 1917: The President Calls For You. Volunteer to Enlist Now in the National Guard
 

1918  It was reported that  by this day, for a period dating back to December 1, 1917, Wyoming's revenue's from oil royalties had increased 74%, an impact, no doubt, of World War One.

1935  Alcohol once again legal.

1951  The Wyoming Air National Guard's 87th Fighter Squadron was activated for service during the Korean Conflict, with personnel assigned to Clovis AFB, N.M., Germany, Okinawa, and South Korea.  Wyoming pilots would fly 1800 missions during the Korean War.

1970     Richard Nixon signed a measure banning cigarette advertising on radio and TV.

2011  Major General Luke Reiner, who was attached to the Liaison Section of the 3d Bn 49th FA back when I was in it, in the 1980s, for a time, became the the Adjutant General of Wyoming.

Elsewhere:

1778   Oliver Pollock, a New Orleans businessman, created the "$" symbol..

1863   Conscription goes into effect in the Union.

1918    Alberta declares total prohibition of alcoholic beverages.

1954   U.S. Air Force Academy was founded in Colorado.

2016  Governor Mead announced the formation of centers to assist displaced mineral industry workers light of the layoffs by Arch Coal and Peabody Coal Company, the two largest coal producers in the United States.  The layoffs came on top of a nearly continual stream of smaller energy sector layoffs over the past several months.  The formation of centers to assist the displaced workers is extraordinary, bringing to mind no other recent examples of anything similar.

January 17

1882  First session of the Wyoming Academy of Sciences.  Attribution:  On  This Day.

1917   Joint Mexican American Committee Concludes

 

Mexican refugee entering the United States.  In spite of the caption, his wealth is probably all on this horse.  Part of the tragedy that involved both the United States and Mexico for well over a decade.

The Joint Committee between the US and Mexico concluded its business.  With the agreement of December 24, 1916 having been made, with Carranza having refused to sign it, and with events overcoming the United States that would give Carranza the result he wanted anyway, there was no more work to be done.

 

Porfirio Diaz in full military costume.  The collapse of his rule lead to the long civil war in Mexico.

Some have stated that the mere existence of the Joint Committee was a success in and of itself, and there is some truth to that.  The committee worked for months on an agreement and came to one, and even if Carranza would not execute it as it didn't guaranty the withdraw of American forces, the fact that the country was now hurtling towards war with Germany made it necessary for that to occur without American formal assent to Carranza's demand.  By not agreeing to it, the US was not bound not to intervene again, which was one of the points that it had sought in the first place. Events essentially gave both nations what they had been demanding.

 

 Revolutionary, intellectual, and radical. General Carranza.  His government fought Villa and Zapata successfully, but he'd go down in a coup lead by his own general, Obregon some years later. 

Even if that was the case this step, the first in the beginning of the end of the event we have been tracking since March, has to be seen as a Mexican Constitutionalist victory in the midst of the Mexican Revolution.  At the time the Commission came to the United States it represented only one side in a three way (sometimes more) Mexican civil war that was still raging.  Even as Carranza demanded that the United States withdraw his forces were not uniformly doing well against either Villa or Zapata.  Disdaining the United States in general, in spite of the fact that Wilson treated his government as the de facto government, he also knew that he could not be seen to be achieving victory over Villa through the intervention of the United States, nor could he be seen to be allowing a violation of Mexican sovereignty.  His refusal to acquiesce to allowing American troops to cross the border in pursuit of raiders, something that the Mexican and American governments had allowed for both nations since the mid 19th Century, allowed him to be seen as a legitimate defender of Mexican sovereignty and as the legitimate head of a Mexican government.

 

More typically imagined in a sombrero, General Francisco Villa.  The colorful, erratic, and perhaps somewhat mentally unstable Villa would attempt to retire to a ranch he acquired after his surrender to Obregon and Carranza, but he ended up being assassinated under cloudy circumstances in 1923.  His killer would live into the 1950s and declare at the end of his life that he'd rid the world of a "monster".

 Emiliano Zapata and his staff.  Zapata was an agrarian and looked the part, which we in turn tend to confuse with the look of the Mexican Revolution.  As with many leaders of the Mexican Revolution, Zapata was assassinated, although unlike Villa he still commanded an army in the field at the time of his death.

As will be seen, even though the war in Mexico raged on, events were overtaking the US and Mexico very quickly.  The Constitutionalist government was legitimizing itself as a radical Mexican de jure government and would quickly become just that.  Revolutions against it would go on for years, but it was very quickly moving towards full legitimacy.  And the United States, having failed to capture Villa or even defeat the Villistas, and having accepted an effective passive role in Mexico after nearly getting into a full war with the Constitutionalist, now very much had its eye on Europe and could not strategically afford to be bogged down in Mexico.  A silent desire to get out of Mexico had become fully open.  The rough terms of the agreement arrived upon by the Committee, while never ratified by Carranza, would effectively operate anyway and the United States now very quickly turned to withdrawing from Mexico.

 

Alvaro Obregon, whose competence and study of military tactics lead to the defeat of Pancho Villa and his Division del Norte.  He'd ultimately become present of Mexico following his coup against Carranza.  Obregon would serve one term as president of Mexico, and was elected to a second term to follow his successor Calles, but he was assassinated prior to taking office.

1919  January 17, 1919. Fake News

I've been impressed, by and large, by how quickly the papers of a century ago reported the news, and often how accurately.

But that wasn't always the case.

Such was the case regarding the murder of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht.

We've already touched on this story, but what I didn't realize, and in fact what's contrary to the way the story tends to be reported now, their murder was known have occurred almost immediately after it occurred.  I thought it took a period of days, but not so.

But the story surrounding that murder was completely false.

Their murders did add fuel to the Communist flames, as the Casper paper reported, but it certainly wasn't at the hand of the Berlin populace, as seemingly all papers reported that day.  There was no Berliner storming of the lobby of a hotel where they were staying.  No mob clubbed Liebknecht and lynched Luxemburg (although her body was thrown in a canal).  No, indeed, the story was ludicrous given that Berlin had the reputation of being a far left city at the time. . . Red Berlin.

As we know, they were killed by the Freikorps, under orders of a Freikorps Captain Waldemar Pabst, formerly an officer of the German Imperial Army.  Liebknecht was clubbed to death with a rifle butt.  Luxemburg was shot.  Both were tortured. But not by a crowd of Berliners.

How did the contrary story get started?  I don't know, but I have to suspect it was a planted story to cover up the murder.

1920  January 17, 1920. And then the entire nation was dry forever. . .

or so it seemed.

The Wyoming State Tribune, which was united with the rest of the press in seeing Prohibition as a great advance, counselled that eternal vigilance would be necessary to keep the nation dry.

An article in Colliers already used the term "moonshine" in connection with bootleg liquor, and featured this illustration with a young boy confronting "Revenues".

1930  Kendall Wyoming hits -52F.

1933 A Baggs school-bell was rung in the Bells of Hope Presidential Inauguration celebration.  Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.

1955  The 141st Medium Tank Battalion, Wyoming Army National Guard, which had been mobilized due to the Korean War, but which was not sent overseas, was deactivated.
2010  Small earthquake swarm commences in Yellowstone National Park.

January 16

Today is Martin Luther King Day for 2012.  The day is observed on the third Monday of each year.

Today is Wyoming Equality Day for 2012.  The day is observed on the third Monday of each year.  This is, of course, a state holiday only.

The fact that the days overlap is not coincidental.  Wyoming was slow to recognize the Martin Luther King Day holiday.  The reason does not stem from racism, but rather from the fact that the Wyoming Legislature of the time felt the holiday was an intrusion on the state's rights and that it was, additionally, worried about the creation of an additional Federal holiday at at time in which fewer and fewer are actually recognized by non governmental employees.  There was also a feeling on the part of the sitting legislature that the holiday was, in some way, not directly applicable to the state, given the state's long history of recognizing equality.  The conflict was ultimately solved by the state passing a holiday recognizing Wyoming's pioneering role in equality which fell on the same date as the Martin Luther King Holiday.

1847  John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.

1882. H. R. 3174 introduced by Congressman Post, of Wyoming, to construct a military road from Fort Washakie to Yellowstone Park. Adversely reported later by Military Affairs Committee.

1883   The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil Service, is passed.

1910  Contrary to yesterday's entry, others note that today is actually the day in which the Buffalo Bill Dam was completed, and not the last cement was poured on this date, in sub zero weather.  The dam was originally named the Shoshone Dam.

1915   Younghawk, an Indian scout for the 7th Cavalry who participated in the valley and hilltop fights at Little Big Horn, died in Elbowood, North Dakota.

1919  Wyoming ratified the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Wyoming, North Carolina, Utah, Nebraska, and Missouri push the 18th Amendment over the top.

On this day in 1919, Wyoming, in combination with North Carolina, Utah, Nebraska and Missouri ratified the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution.  These legislative acts secured a sufficient number of votes to make the 18th Amendment the law. The Senate had passed the original proposal on August 1, 1917 and the House a revised variant on December 17, 1917.  The various states passed it in the following order:

1. Mississippi (January 7, 1918)
2. Virginia (January 11, 1918)
3. Kentucky (January 14, 1918)
4. North Dakota (January 25, 1918)
5. South Carolina (January 29, 1918)
6. Maryland (February 13, 1918)
7. Montana (February 19, 1918)
8. Texas (March 4, 1918)
9. Delaware (March 18, 1918)
10. South Dakota (March 20, 1918)
11. Massachusetts (April 2, 1918)
12. Arizona (May 24, 1918)
13. Georgia (June 26, 1918)
14. Louisiana (August 3, 1918)
15. Florida (November 27, 1918)
16. Michigan (January 2, 1919)
17. Ohio (January 7, 1919)
18. Oklahoma (January 7, 1919)
19. Idaho (January 8, 1919)
20. Maine (January 8, 1919)
21. West Virginia (January 9, 1919)
22. California (January 13, 1919)
23. Tennessee (January 13, 1919)
24. Washington (January 13, 1919)
25. Arkansas (January 14, 1919)
26. Illinois (January 14, 1919)
27. Indiana (January 14, 1919)
28. Kansas (January 14, 1919)
29. Alabama (January 15, 1919)
30. Colorado (January 15, 1919)
31. Iowa (January 15, 1919)
32. New Hampshire (January 15, 1919)
33. Oregon (January 15, 1919)
34. North Carolina (January 16, 1919)
35. Utah (January 16, 1919)
36. Nebraska (January 16, 1919)
37. Missouri (January 16, 1919)
38. Wyoming (January 16, 1919)
39. Minnesota (January 17, 1919)
40. Wisconsin (January 17, 1919)
41. New Mexico (January 20, 1919)
42. Nevada (January 21, 1919)
43. New York (January 29, 1919)
44. Vermont (January 29, 1919)
45. Pennsylvania (February 25, 1919)
46. New Jersey (March 9, 1922)

Connecticut and Rhode Island told Congress to pound dry sand and didn't ratify the amendment, not that that matter in context.  There were, of course, only 48 states at the time.

The 18th Amendment provided:

Section 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all the territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.
Section 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

While the intent of the Amendment was clear; "bone dry prohibition", it didn't actually provide any definitions and so it required legislation to make it effective, which was quick in coming. 

As this list should indicate, Prohibition was actually massively popular in the United States including the Western United States.  Only two states refused to ratify the proposed amendment.  I'm not sure what the situation was in Connecticut, but Rhode Island was heavily Catholic with a large Italian demographic and likely found the proposal abhorrent for that reason.  Still, it's somewhat telling that Wyoming's ratification came with a slate of late Western states that voted for it.  Still, the entire process really only took one year once Congress had passed it.

Everyone is well aware of how the history of Prohibition worked and its generally regarded as a failure.  Like most popular history, it's become mythologized, which isn't a bad thing in and of itself as myths are the means by which humans originally remembered their history.  However, like other instances in which an event quickly turned into an unacceptable defeat, the myth isn't completely accurate.  The popular myth is that Prohibition was unpopular from the start and is a failed example of legislating morality.  While it may be an example of such a failure, it very clearly wasn't unpopular at first and in fact the opposite was very much the case.  Indeed, as late as the election of 1922 it remained so popular in Wyoming that William B. Ross, the Democrat who ran for office, ran on a platform of more strictly enforcing its provisions.

So a person might reasonably ask what happened to cause it to so rapidly fail and to be so inaccurately remembered.  Quite a few things really.

For one thing, the final push to pass Prohibition came in the context of World War One.  While momentum to pass it had been building for well over a decade, the war caused an enormous fear that American youth would be exposed to the corrupting influences of European culture.  If that seems really odd, and it is, we have to keep in mind that American culture in the 1910s remained predominantly Protestant in outlook (and indeed it still is).  English speaking Protestants took a distinctively different view of drink in this period than their Catholic fellows, in part because their history with it was considerably different.  While early Protestants had not been opposed to drink at all, this had evolved and by this point there was a strong anti drinking culture in the English speaking world.  People feared that progress on the anti drinking front would be lost when young Americans were exposed to French wine and, frankly, French women.

But for the most part the cultural impact on Americans, who were not in the war long, was much less than it would be for later wars, even where they fought overseas.  So this fear did not really last that long.  The short but deep depression that followed the war, moreover, reminded people that alcohol was an agricultural byproduct, and like a lot of things that impact a person's wallet, that had an influence.  The lid coming off of the culture in the 1920s had an additional big impact on things as the 1920s started to Roar and Prohibition became fashionable to flaunt.  That in turn inspired criminal activity that became a major problem.  By the early 1930s Americans had substantially changed their minds as a second depression, the Great Depression, again depressed the agricultural sector along with every other.  So, after a short stint, Prohibition went from massively popular to substantially unpopular, and the 18th Amendment was repealed.

1919  January 16, 1919 (Other than Prohibition). Back to War? Wyoming National Guardsmen "in the heart of Prussia", Smaller Baseball Salaries?

The Cheyenne newspaper had some shocking headlines, in addition to the expected arrival of Prohibition, on this day in 1919.  Fears of a resumed war in Europe loomed large as German objections to the terms of the peace were developing.

News of a revolution in Argentina had been in the press all week long as well. And now there was news of a revolution in Peru.

And baseball salaries, reportedly huge just prior to this time, but certainly not retrospectively, were in the news.

Officers of the 49th Infantry Division arriving in New York on January 16, 1919.  Note the officer on the left is wearing pince nez glasses, still in style at the time.  The officer in the middle is wearing leather gloves of a type that would continue to see use for decades.

While fears of a revived war were in the press in Cheyenne, troops were none the less still pouring home.

Fantastic "yard long" panoramic photograph of Camp Custer, Michigan, copyrighted on this day in 1919.  Not taken on this day clearly, but a great photo.

1920     Prohibition began as the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took effect.  Wyoming's politicians were surprisingly supportive of prohibition, even though the population began evading it from the onset of the Volstead Act.

This, of course, was the official arrival of permanent, or thought to be permanent, Prohibition under an amendment to the United States Constitution and the enabling act the Volstead Act.  Wyoming, which was very supportive of Prohibition at first, helped push it over the top.

Indeed, by this point Wyoming was several months into state prohibition.  Often forgotten, however, the enter country was now in "wartime" prohibition, which had passed during World War One ostensibly as a grain saving measure.  As the US didn't ratify the Versailles Treaty, the war was technically still on and wartime prohibition still in effect.  Therefore, the night prior wasn't a giant party by drinkers seeking one last legal drink.  The sale of alcohol had been illegal for months.

1924  First aircraft landing at Pinedale.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1943  A B-17 bomber did a ground loop in high winds at the Casper Air Base.  Wind was a contributing cause.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1944  USS Johnson County, which was not named that at the time, but later renamed that in honor of several counties in various states, including Wyoming, called that, commissioned.


1944.  Rev. Francis Penny was appointed pastor of St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Cody but he resided at St. Barbara's in Powell where he was administrator in the absence of Rev. Fred Kimmett.  Rev. Kimmett was serving as Chaplain in the U.S. Armed Services.

1953  Wyoming's long National Guard association with cavalry ends when the 115th Cavalry becomes the 349th Armored Field Artillery.  The 115th had not been activated during the ongoing Korean War.

2017  Today is Equality Day for 2017

Elsewhere: 

1917  Admiral George Dewey dies
 

George Dewey, a hero of the Spanish American War and the only U.S. officer to ever hold the rank Admiral of the Navy died at age 79 on this date in 1917.  He had been an officer in the U.S. Navy since the Civil War but obtained fame during the war with Spain during which his fleet took Manila Bay, securing the Philippines for the United States.

 Dewey as a Captain while with the Bureau of Equipment.

Dewey was a Naval Academy graduate from the Class of 1858.  He saw very active service during the Civil War with service on a variety of vessels.  He married Susan Goodwin after the Civil War and had one son, George, by Susan in 1872, but she died only five days thereafter leaving him a widower with a young son.  He none the less shortly received sea duty, retaining it until 1880 when he was assigned to lighthouse administration duty, a serious assignment at the time.  His son was principally raised by his aunts and would not follow the military career of his father, becoming instead a stock broker who passed away, having never married, in 1963.  Dewey himself asked for sea duty again in 1893 as he felt his health was deteriorating with a desk job.  He was therefore assigned, at the rank of Commodore, to command the Asiatic Squadron in  1897.

Seeing the war coming and receiving what were essentially war warnings from Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt in the weeks leading up to the Spanish American War, he based himself at Hong Kong, the British possession, and began war preparations from there.  His fleet was ordered out of harbor at Hong Kong only shortly before the declaration of war with Spain as the British, knowing that the war was to come, did not want a belligerent power in their ports, which they were effectively doing in the run up to war. His squadron was therefore well situated, if not completely re-outfitted, to attack Manila Bay only a few days later, on April 30, 1898 after war had been declared.  In a one sided victory which cost only one American life (of course the "only" wouldn't mean much to that sailor) Spanish naval power in the Philippines was essentially eliminated in the battle.  As a result he became a household name and a great American hero of the era.

 Heroic painting of Dewey in the Battle of Manila in the Maine State House.

Dewey married for the second time (second marriages were somewhat looked down upon for widowers) in 1899, this time to the widow of a U.S. Army general.  The marriage to Mildred McLean Hazen would be a factor, amongst several others, in keeping him from running for President in 1900, which was a semi popular position with some people and which he entertained.  His second wife was Catholic and the marriage had been a Catholic ceremony, which angered Protestants at a time at which it remained effectively impossible for a Catholic to run for that office.  In 1903 he was promoted to the rank of Admiral of the Navy in honor of his Spanish American War achievement making him the only U.S. officer to ever hold that rank.

 Dewey in 1903.

The extent to which Dewey was a huge hero at the time cannot be overestimated.  That he would seriously be considered as a Presidential contender, and seriously consider running, says something about his fame at the time.  His promotion to a rank that is matched only to that held by John Pershing in the U.S. Army, and which of course Pershing did not yet hold, meant that he was effectively at that time holding a rank that exceeded that granted to any other American officer during their lifetime and which has never been exceeded by any Naval officer since.  A special medal was struck bearing his likeness and awarded to every sailor or marine serving in the battle, a remarkable unique military award.  That he is not a household name today, and he is not, says a lot about the fickle nature of fame.

Armour's meat packing calendar from 1899, Dewey medal, as it is commonly known, on lower left corner.

There's no denying that Admiral Dewey's death had a certain fin de siecle feel to it, particularly when combined with the passing of Buffalo Bill Cody, which happened the prior week, and also in combination with the death of another famous person which was about to occur.  It is not that Dewey and Cody had similar careers or that they'd become famous for the same reason, but there was a sense that the transition age which began in the 1890s and continued on into the early 20th Century was ending.  Both Cody and Dewey had careers that started at about the same time. Both were Civil War veterans.  If Cody became famous well before the 1890s, which he did, it was also the case that in some ways the full flower of his Wild West Show came during that period.  Indeed, Cody had modified his show after the Spanish American War to feature the "Congress of Rough Riders", building on the romantic notions that the term "Rough Rider" conveyed. That term, of course, had come up during the Spanish American War to describe members of the three volunteer cavalry regiments raised during that conflict, never mind that only one of them, the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, saw service in the war and that it was in fact deployed dismounted.

 Dewey receiving Roosevelt on board the Olympia, 1909.

Indeed, the actual Spanish American War had been a fully modern war, much like the Boer War was, and which saw the US attempting to belatedly adapt to that change.  The Navy was really better prepared for it than the Army.  That contributed to the peculiar nature of the era, however, with combat being much like what we'd later see in World War One but with the service still having one foot in the Civil War era.  By the war's end, of course, the US was a global colonial power, whether it was ready to be or not, and that was a large part of the reason that Dewey was such a celebrated figure.  His actions in the Philippines had significantly contributed to the defeat of a European colonial power, albeit a weak and decrepit one, and which helped to make the US a colonial power, albeit a confused and reluctant one.  The passing of Dewey and Cody seem, even now, to have the feel of the people who opened the door stepping aside to let they party in, just before they go back out.

Dewey in retirement, 1912.