Gilbert M. Stack's Blog, page 114

Today in History: The Boston Tea Party

On this day (December 16) in 1773, American colonists calling themselves the Sons of Liberty, disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians and forcibly boarded ships in Boston harbor carrying British East India Company tea and dumped the cargo into the harbor. The disguises were the equivalent of 18th century ski masks—everyone knew they were not Mohawks but it was hoped that the pretense would keep individuals from being identified.

The tea was a game piece in Britain’s dual effort to raise more tax revenue from the colonies and help the British East India Company recover from severe financial setbacks it had encountered due to poor management both in London and in India. The tea tax was actually lower than the previous tea taxes—low enough to let the legal tea undercut the price of smuggled tea. The Sons of Liberty feared that this strategy would not only succeed in getting Americans to end their boycott of British tea but would also severely damage the businesses of American import merchants (most of whom were involved to some degree in smuggling). By destroying the tea, they prevented both “legal” competition with the smuggled tea and a tax that they believed had been unjustly imposed upon them from being collected.

The British responded with the Intolerable Acts, violating British legal traditions by collectively punishing all of Boston for the actions of the Sons of Liberty.

Today in History: Animal Rights

On this day (December 10) in 1907 London Medical Students rioted to protest a statue of a dog that was erected in protest of the practice of vivisection of animals by the medical school. The Brown Dog Affair began when famed medical researcher, William Bayliss, who discovered hormones, performed an illegal vivisection for 60 medical students. He and his students claimed the dog was properly anesthetized but the protesters (led by a group of Swedish feminists) claimed that the dog was conscious and struggling throughout the procedure. Bayliss successfully sued them for libel, but they responded by putting up the statue of a dog with a plaque reading: “Men and women of England, how long shall these Things be?” So much vandalism was done to the statue that a 24 hour police guard had to be placed on it. This inspired a thousand medical students to riot, requiring 400 policemen to calm things down. The statue was quietly removed and melted down to prevent future incidents.

Today in History: The Battle of Great Bridge

On this day (December 9) in 1775, British and American forces clashed for control of Virginia at the Battle of Great Bridge outside of Norfolk. Note that this was before the Declaration of Independence. Tensions had been increasing between the British and the Virginians since April but hostilities had not become violent until General Gage sent small detachments of the 14th Regiment to raid Virginia for military stores. Added to these detachments were a unit of freed slaves (the Ethiopian Regiment) and another of Virginian loyalists (the Queen’s Own Loyal Virginia Regiment).

The British established a fort on the Norfolk side of Great Bridge and the Virginians met them there on December 2, fortifying the other side. On December 9, the British decided to drive off the Virginians. Their plan called for a detachment of the Ethiopian regiment to make a diversionary strike several miles downstream but they abandoned this plan when local commanders pointed out that the ex-slaves had already been sent to fortify a different ford. They attacked anyway not knowing that the American force was twice as large as their intelligence reports indicated. The attack was repulsed with between 62 and 102 British casualties. The only Virginian casualty was a man with a sore thumb.

The loss at Great Bridge pretty much trapped the British on their ships, so they leveled Norfolk by bombardment on January 1 and pulled out for the early stages of the war.

Today in History: John Lennon Was Murdered

On this day (December Eight) in 1980 John Lennon was murdered by Mark David Chapman. Chapman had traveled from Honolulu the preceding October to kill Lennon but changed his mind. That morning Lennon had signed his album, Dark Fantasy, for Chapman. That evening Chapman shot him four times in the back.

Why Chapman shot him is difficult to understand. He had been a big Beatles fan but got angry at Lennon for stating that the Beatles were “bigger than Jesus”. Later he got angry that Lennon could write “Imagine” about “no possessions” and then enjoy his millions. Lennon wasn’t the only person on his “hit list”. It included David Bowie, whom he had front row tickets to see in Elephant Man the next night (as did John Lennon and Yoko Ono), Johnny Carson, Marlon Brando, Walter Cronkite, Elizabeth Taylor, George C. Scott, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. I guess in the end, he was just crazy. He changed an insanity plea to a guilty plea and is currently serving twenty years to life in prison. He has been denied parole nine times.

Today in History: Pearl Harbor

On this day (December 7) in 1941, the Japanese brought the U.S. into World War II with a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. The attack came as a total shock to America, but it shouldn’t have caught the country by surprise. The Japanese had a history of attacking without formal declaration of war.

The assault was intended to prevent the U.S. from interfering with the Japanese conquest of the overseas territories of the U.K., the Netherlands and the U.S. It succeeded, but didn’t keep the U.S. out of the war. The 2,403 Americans killed in the attack inspired the most massive military buildup the world had ever seen and eventually led to an Allied victory.

Today in History: Slavery Was Made Unconstitutional

On this day (December 6) in 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution was ratified banning slavery. It was a critical, although incomplete, step in guaranteeing all Americans their civil rights. Lincoln pushed hard to have it ratified in the last days of his life out of fear that without a constitutional amendment, slavery would return once the southern states were accepted back into the union.

Unfortunately, there was no consensus regarding how to help the now ex-slaves transition to life as free peoples and even less support for compensating the ex-slaves for their unjustly coerced labor. William Tecumseh Sherman’s “40 acres and a mule” would have gone a long way toward helping the newly freed Americans start their lives fresh and lifting them out of poverty. It also wouldn’t have cost the nation very much as it had a lot of land at its disposal. Instead, the ex-slaves were pretty much left to fend for themselves.

Today in History: Crusaders Take Sidon

On this day (December 5) in 1110, a crusader force involving land troops from the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a 60 ship navy under the command of King Sigurd I of Norway, and a supporting fleet from Venice, took the coastal city of Sidon away from the Fatamid Empire (based in Egypt) after a 47 day siege. As a reward for his efforts, Sigurd I was given a splinter of Christendom’s most sacred relic, a piece of the cross upon which Jesus was crucified.

Today in History: The Fate of the Mary Celeste

On this day (December 4) in 1872, the Mary Celeste was found off the Azores Islands. The vessel was deserted but there was no significant damage to make it not seaworthy. Its cargo and the crew’s belongings were undisturbed. It still bore ample provisions for sustaining life. Only its crew was missing.

To this day no one knows what happened to the crew. Various theories range from mutiny, to piracy, to insurance fraud, to seaquakes and waterspouts, to giant squid, to paranormal or alien intervention. My favorite explanation was put forth in a short story by (I think) Roger Zelazny. His idea was that a sailor finally escaped the damned Flying Dutchman and was plucked out of the sea by the crew of the Mary Celeste leading them to suffer the Dutchman’s fate…

Today in History: Robert Louis Stevenson Died

On this day (December 3) in 1894, Robert Louis Stevenson died. Stevenson is remembered best for such literary works as The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, Kidnapped, and Treasure Island. Images from his work pervade the modern culture. In addition to Jeckyll/Hyde he practically created the modern stereotype of the pirate with his Long John Silver (wooden leg, parrot, treasure map with a big X on it). H. Rider Haggard once said that he wrote King Solomon’s Mines on a bet with his brother to prove he could write a better book than Treasure Island, so Stevenson gets some credit there as well. The first of his books I read (when I was in the third or fourth grade, I think) was Kidnapped and that image of climbing the unfinished tower in the dark still lingers with me…

Today in History: John Brown Was Executed

On this day (December 2) in 1859, John Brown was hanged after he seized the Federal Armory at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia and attempted to start a slave insurrection. Brown is a controversial figure today, just as he was during his lifetime. He and his sons passionately believed in the abolition of slavery and killed people to advance this cause. They fought proslavery forces in Kansas before developing the idea of starting a widespread slave rebellion in the south. They seized the Federal Armory in Harper’s Ferry to provide weapons for the expected uprising of slaves, but the hoped for rebellion never occurred. Brown and his followers (21 men in all) were pinned down and eventually Brown was captured, tried and hung.

The raid on Harper’s Ferry in 1859 dramatically upped the tensions before the Civil War. For many southerners, Brown was evil incarnate trying to bring their worst nightmare (a slave rebellion) true. They could not understand why so many northerners were sympathetic toward Brown and his views. For many northerners, the fate of John Brown was further evidence of the corruption of the south in its dedication to slavery.