Gilbert M. Stack's Blog, page 102

Today in History: A Slave Revolt in Manhattan

On this day (April 6) in 1712, two dozen black slaves in Manhattan armed themselves and gathered to make a bid for freedom. They set fire to a baker’s outbuilding and then attacked the white men who came to put out the fire. They killed eight of them and wounded seven others. The slaves then fled into the forest but most were rounded up the next day. Six chose suicide rather than be recaptured. It was the better choice.

Fearing a larger slave revolt, seventy black men were arrested on suspicion of being involved in the insurrection. All told 39 men were indicted and tried. None received legal counsel. 23 were convicted and 19 were sentenced to death.

Executions were supposed to be carried out in Manhattan by hanging, but Governor Robert Hunter wanted to use the executions to deter future slave insurrections. Therefore he made examples of four of the men: 1) The first was tied to a wheel and killed over a period of hours by smashing his bones; 2) the next was hung by chains and permitted to die of deprivation; 3) the third was burned to death; 4) and the fourth was burned to death over a slow fire to draw out his agony.

Today in History: Pocahontas

On this day (April 5) in 1614, Pocahontas married John Rolfe. She was seventeen years old and had been captured by the English and held for ransom the previous year. During that time she converted to Christianity and took the name Rebecca. She also met the man who would become her husband. Pocahontas and John Rolfe had a son whom they named Thomas. The next year (1616) they traveled to London together where she became a celebrity. In 1617 as they were preparing to return to Virginia, she died. The cause is debated, but was probably pneumonia, small pox or tuberculosis (although some think she was poisoned). She has many famous descendants, including Edith Wilson (wife of President Woodrow Wilson), Senator Jeanne Shaheen, and Wayne Newton.

Today in History: Martin Luther King, Jr. Was Assassinated

On this day (April 4) in 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. An American Gandhi, King remains the greatest proponent for Civil Rights that the U.S. has ever produced. He’s inspired hundreds of millions—and quite possibly billions—to recognize the humanity in each other and strive to judge one another by the content of their character. James Earl Ray was apprehended for the crime after fleeing first to Canada and then to Europe. He confessed to murdering King and was sentenced to 99 years in prison, but three days later he recanted his confession. The King family came to believe that Ray was not involved in the murder, but had been set up to take the blame. They pursued a civil trial against Lloyd Jowers, a restaurant owner, and in the trial convinced the jury that a conspiracy involving Jowers, the Mafia, and local, state and federal government agencies (but not James Earl Ray) was responsible for King’s murder. This prompted the federal government to reinvestigate the case, but they rejected the conspiracy theory.

Today in History: Jack the Ripper

On this day (April 3) in 1888, the first of the eleven Whitechapel Murders was committed. Whitechapel was the most notorious criminal rookery (slum) in London and was characterized by extreme poverty, substandard housing, homelessness, and endemic prostitution. The first of the Whitechapel Murder victims was a 45 year old prostitute named Emma Elizabeth Smith, but despite being counted as victim number one, it is not clear she was actually murdered by Jack the Ripper.

Today in History: The Fountain of Youth

On this day (April 2) in 1513, Juan Ponce de Leon first spotted the land that would one day become known as Florida. Ponce de Leon is most famous today for his quest for the legendary Fountain of Youth. Those accounts are all posthumous and there is no contemporary evidence that Ponce de Leon ever actually searched for the fountain. Still, it’s a wonderful and intriguing story that has recurred repeatedly in our popular culture including in the original Spiderman cartoon (the Fountain of Terror episode) and Tim Powers’ amazing novel, On Stranger Tides.

Today in History: April Fool's Day

On this day (April 1) much of the world celebrates April Fools Day—a day of pranks and jokes. It’s not clear just how long this celebration has been practiced. Some scholars believe that Geoffrey Chaucer references the custom in the Nun’s Priest’s Tale (written in 1392) when he mentions the 32nd Day of March. A French poet, Eloy d’Amerval, may also have mentioned it in 1508 when he refers to “poissons d’avril.” But the first clear reference was in 1539 when a Flemish noble was reported to have sent his servants on foolish errands on April 1.

Today in History: The Intolerable Acts

On this day (March 31) in 1774, Great Britain passed the Boston Port Act—one of the Intolerable Acts that helped to spark the American Revolution. The Act closed the port of Boston to all shipping as punishment for the Boston Tea Party. Parliament passed the act with overwhelming support, but the colonies considered it to be unconstitutional collective punishment. It sparked massive sympathy for radical Boston in the rest of the colonies and helped to unite the colonies in opposition to Britain and the First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774 to formulate a joint response to the Intolerable Acts.

Today in History: The Sicilian Vespers

On this day (March 30) in 1282 the uprising called the Sicilian Vespers began. Sicily was ruled by the Charles of Anjou, an important Frenchman and member of the Capetian dynasty who had conquered Sicily at the bequest of the pope sixteen years earlier. He brought many Frenchmen with him. The uprising began at a party at the Church of the Holy Spirit on Easter Monday night. Many French officials joined the festivities. One of them tried to drag off a Sicilian woman who had been resisting his advances. Her husband killed the official with a knife. When his comrades attempted to get vengeance the crowd fell upon them and killed them as well. Then they began running through the town of Palermo calling for all of the French to be killed. Taverns were invaded as well as French homes and men, women and children were murdered. They even invaded monasteries and convents looking for the French and used a pronunciation test to determine who to kill. If you couldn’t pronounce the word “ciciri” correctly you were deemed French and put to death. The Sicilian wives of Frenchmen were also butchered. By the end of the first night, 2000 French were dead. Within six weeks, the number of French men and women killed was approximately 13,000.

Today in History: The Battle of Towton

On this day (March 29) Edward IV of the House of York won a crushing victory over the House of Lancaster at the Battle of Towton. The inability of Henry VI (Lancaster) to rule effectively due to a combination of his pious nature and his periodic bouts of insanity led to instability in England as rival factions sought to control the person of the king. Richard Duke of York convinced Parliament to make him Henry VI’s heir in 1460 which caused Queen Margaret of Anjou (Henry’s wife) to raise an army to assert her young son’s rights. Richard was killed in the Battle of Wakefield which passed all of his titles to his son, Edward. The Battle of Towton was fought to determine whether Edward (York) or Henry (Lancaster) would be king of England.

Towton was probably the largest and bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil. The Lancaster’s, with 30-35,000 soldiers had strong defensive positions at Towton. Edward arrived on the battlefield without the badly needed support of the Duke of Norfolk. It was Palm Sunday and snow was falling with a strong wind blowing from the Yorkist lines toward Towton. The Yorkists took advantage of this to launch an archery attack on the defenders. The wind carried their arrows further than their typical range while suppressing return fire. Frustrated by this attack, the Lancastrians left their defensive positions and charged across the battlefield at the Yorkist.

They fought for hours with Norfolk eventually arriving to bolster Edward’s army bringing his strength up to 25-30,000 men. The Lancastrians were routed and thousands more of them died as they were cut down from behind. Many prisoners were also killed. In all 20,000 Lancastrians are thought to have died versus 8,000 Yorkists. The rivers were said to run red with blood for days afterward. Henry fled the country and Edward took the crown of England. He would rule for nine years.

Today in History: Didius Julianus Buys the Throne of Rome

On this day (March Twenty-Eight) in 193, Didius Julianus bought the office of Emperor of Rome from the Praetorian guard. The guard had just murdered Didius’ predecessor, Pertinax, for attempting to restore discipline to their ranks. After Pertinax’s death the Praetorian Guard announced that they would make emperor whoever paid them the most. There was a quick impromptu auction which Didius won by promising 25,000 sesterces (a brass coin) to each member of the guard.

The people of Rome never accepted Didius greeting him with groans and sometimes throwing stones. When word of this discontent spread out across the empire, three generals decided to make a play to become emperor. The first to arrive was Septimus Severus and the ill-disciplined Praetorian Guard was no match for his experienced troops. They negotiated with Severus to turn over the murderers of Pertinax and then one of their number murdered Didius. Didius Julianus was the second emperor on the throne in what came to be called The Year of the Five Emperors.