History
Military Monday: The Battle of Antietam 1862

[From: Wikipedia & The History Channel]
One hundred and sixty-five years ago, today, The Battle of Antietam, also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the Southern U.S., occurred September 17, 1862, at Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland. It pitted Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia against Union General George McClellan’s Army of the Potomac and was the culmination of Lee’s attempt to invade the north. The battle’s outcome would be vital to shaping America’s future and it remains the deadliest one-day battle in all American military history, with a combined tally of 22,717 dead, wounded or missing.
McClellan had halted Lee’s invasion of Maryland but, Lee was able to withdraw his army back to Virginia without interference from the cautious McClellan. McClellan’s refusal to pursue Lee’s army led to his removal from command by President Abraham Lincoln in November. Although the battle was tactically inconclusive, the Confederate troops had withdrawn first from the battlefield and abandoned their invasion, making it a Union strategic victory. It was a sufficiently significant victory to give Lincoln the confidence to announce his Emancipation Proclamation, which discouraged the British and French governments from pursuing any potential plans to recognize the Confederacy.

[From: Emerging Civil War…another take…]
Fortunately, for the sake of debate, the outcome of Civil War battles is not as clear-cut as that of a football game, where one can look at the scoreboard at the end of the game and easily determine who won, who lost, or, in some cases, if the outcome was a draw. Historians endlessly debate whether certain battles were overwhelming victories, marginal victories, or draws. Perhaps no other battle’s tactical outcome is more misunderstood than the bloodiest single day battle of the war: Antietam.
No one would doubt Antietam’s significance in the larger picture of the war. However, the common conception of Antietam is that the battle was tactically a draw, with neither side having gained a significant enough of an advantage to have claimed the victory. This article will challenge that commonly held belief, using particular instances from the battle and the Maryland Campaign to demonstrate the Army of the Potomac’s victory at Antietam.
[Had this battle been a Confederate victory, this country might look very, very different. ~Victoria]
Throwback Thursday: Hurricane Ike 2008

While we are on the subject of hurricanes, ten years ago, today, Hurricane Ike struck Galveston, Texas, at 2:10am CDT. It was recorded as a Category 4 on September 4 as it moved near the Leeward Islands. Though it had lessened in strength from its prior Cat4 status to Cat2, this was a bad storm in costs, damage and death. Ike’s storm surge went right over the Galveston Seawall, a ten-mile wall built for protection after the devastating Galveston Hurricane of 1900.
Ike claimed 195 lives…74 in Haiti, six in Cuba and 113 in the US. As of August 2011, 16 are still missing. This was a huge storm that also damaged the Bahamas, the Turks & Caicos, the Florida Panhandle, Mississippi and Louisiana. It is the most expensive storm to ever hit Cuba and, at $38 billion, was the second-costliest storm in US history until 2012.
I was living in Texas when Ike hit. I was too far inland to be affected by more than some rain storms. The terrain in Texas is quite different from North Carolina and even though the Austin Area is roughly the same distance from the Texas coast as the Piedmont/Triangle is from the NC coast, my native Texan friends told me that Austin had never been hit by a hurricane.
I was employed by the very agency that responded to the disaster…The Texas General Land Office, though I was not working in the Coastal Management Unit. I was working for the Veterans Land Board but, I remember the teams going down to help with the clean up and the pictures of the damage that were posted to our intranet. The stunning images of the debris that littered I-45 and the heartbreaking photos of the flooding to downtown Galveston. NASA’s Johnson Space Center (Houston, we’ve had a problem…) suffered roof damage to Mission Control and my beloved Lone Star Flight Museum wound up with $18 million in damaged planes and had to be moved inland to Ellington Field. ~Victoria
Wayback Wednesday: SS Central America 1857

In 1857, caught in a Category 2 Hurricane, the SS Central America sank 160 miles off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, drowning 420+, including Captain of the Ship Commander William Lewis Herndon. Nicknamed The Ship of Gold, 30,000 pounds of gold from the California Gold Rush went down with her, exacerbating The Panic of 1857.
It wasn’t until very recently that the lost gold was recovered and only two years ago that the salvage award of 100% was awarded.
In other September 12 trivia bits, as we wait for Hurricane Florence 2018 to show up, this appears to be a rather bad day for hurricanes. Did you know that there have been six Atlantic Hurricanes named Florence? She gets around. ~Vic
1910 Alice Stebbins Wells was hired as the first LAPD Policewoman.
1928 The Okeechobee Hurricane, a Category 4 storm, struck Guadeloupe, killing 1,200.
1979 Hurricane Frederic, a Category 4 storm, slammed into Dauphin Island, Alabama, destroying the bridge to the mainland and killing five.
1988 Hurricane Gilbert, the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record until 2005, devastated Jamaica, produced a 19 foot storm surge and killed 49.
Burt Reynolds

February 11, 1936 – September, 6, 2018
A sad Throwback Thursday…(just a little late posting).
He was Ben Frazer for 20 episodes on the TV show Riverboat, 1959-1960. He was Quint Asper for 50 episodes on the TV show Gunsmoke, 1962-1965. He played Detective Lt. John Hawk for one season on the TV show Hawk in 1966. He was Dan August for one season on the TV show of the same name, 1970-1971 (I remember this…vaguely). He was the voice of Troy Garland on the Out of this World TV show for four years, 1987-1991. He was B.L. Stryker for 12 episodes on the TV show of the same name, 1989-1990. He played Wood Newton for four years on the TV show Evening Shade, 1990-1994. He was even on an episode of The X-Files playing God in 2002.
He was Lewis Medlock in the thriller Deliverance, 1972. He was Jay Grobart in The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing, 1973. He was Robert ‘Gator’ McKlusky in White Lightening, 1973. He was Paul ‘Wrecking’ Crewe in The Longest Yard, 1974. He was W.W. Bright in W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings, 1975. He returned in 1976 as ‘Gator’ McKlusky, again, in Gator, the sequel to White Lightening. He was Billy Clyde Puckett in Semi-Tough, 1977. He was “The Greatest Stuntman Alive” Sonny Hooper in Hooper, 1978. He was Phil Potter in Starting Over, 1979. He was J.J. McClure in The Cannonball Run, 1981 (I remember going to this at the theatre with friends). He was Sgt. Thomas Sharky in Sharky’s Machine, 1981. He played the great Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, 1982. He was Richard Babson in Best Friends, 1982. He was Stroker Ace in the film of the same name in 1983. He was David Fowler in The Man Who Loved Women, 1983 (he did a LOT of loving!). He reprised his role of J.J. McClure in Cannonball Run II, 1984. He was Mike Murphy in City Heat, 1984. He was Tony Church in Rent-A-Cop, 1988. He was John L. Sullivan IV in Switching Channels, 1988. He was Joe Paris in Physical Evidence, 1989 (another one I remember going to the theatre to see). He was the voice of Charlie B. Barkin, the German Shepherd mix in All Dogs Go to Heaven, 1989.
His career slowed down after that but, he roared back to life playing Jack Horner in the 1997 hit Boogie Nights. He returned to the The Longest Yard remake as Coach Nate Scarborough in 2005. He played Boss Hogg in the 2005 film version of the TV show The Dukes of Hazzard. He was Sam LeFleur in Forget About It, 2006. One of his last movies was playing Vic Edwards in The Last Movie Star, a 2017 fitting story of an aging movie star with the bulk of his work behind him. Burt worked until he died, with his last film, Defining Moments, to be released after his death.
Even with all of the above interesting characters he played in a career spanning 60 years, literally, he will always and forever be…Bo Darville…The Bandit. ~Victoria
Smokey and The Bandit, 1977.
Smokey and The Bandit II, 1980.
Smokey and The Bandit Part 3, 1983.
Addendum:
Awards
♡ 1991 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor/Comedy Series in Evening Shade
♡ 1992 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor/TV Musical or Comedy in Evening Shade
♡ 1998 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor/Motion Picture in Boogie Nights
Notable Nominations
☆ 1971 Golden Globe Award Nomination for Best Actor/TV Drama in Dan August
☆ 1975 Golden Globe Award Nomination for Best Actor/Motion Picture Musical or Comedy in The Longest Yard (The movie won for Best Musical or Comedy)
☆ 1980 Golden Globe Award Nomination for Best Actor/Motion Picture Musical or Comedy in Starting Over
☆ 1991 Golden Globe Award Nomination for Best Actor/TV Musical or Comedy in Evening Shade
☆ 1992 Primetime Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor/Comedy Series in Evening Shade
☆ 1993 Golden Globe Award Nomination for Best Actor/TV Musical or Comedy in Evening Shade
★ 1998 Academy Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actor in Boogie Nights
☆ 1998 BAFTA Award Nomination for Actor/Supporting Role in Boogie Nights
☆ 1998 SAG Award Nomination for Outstanding Performance/Male Actor/Supporting Role in Boogie Nights
☆ 1998 SAG Award Nomination for Outstanding Performance/Cast/Motion Picture in Boogie Nights
National South Carolina Day
August 31 has four celebrations and one proclamation day. National South Carolina Day honors the eighth state to join the United States, ratifying the U.S. Constitution on May 23, 1788. Initially part of Province of Carolina, The Palmetto State (Clarendon Province) was split in 1712 from what would become North Carolina (Albemarle Province). It was the first state to vote in favor of secession in late 1860.
It is home to Table Rock & Caesars Head State Parks, Cherokee Foothills Scenic Parkway, the Fort Sumter National Monument, the East Coast Marine Corps boot camp at Parris Island and, Charleston, the oldest & largest city in the state. The two largest Native American tribes were the Cherokee and the Catawba.
An earthquake struck Charleston on this very day in 1886 killing 60 people.
Notable South Carolinians:
Francis Marion [Swamp Fox] – Revolutionary (1732 – February 27, 1795)
James Strom Thurmond, Sr. – Governor (December 5, 1902 – June 26, 2003)
Melvin Horace Purvis, II – FBI Agent (October 24, 1903 – February 29, 1960)
William Childs Westmoreland – General (March 26, 1914 – July 18, 2005)
James Joseph Brown – Musician (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006)
Also celebrated:
National Matchmaker Day
National Diatomaceous Earth Day
National Trail Mix Day (Yum!)
***National College Colors Day (If on the Friday before Labor Day…Go Pack!)
Cheers and Enjoy!
National Massachusetts Day
August 17 has five celebrations. National Massachusetts Day highlights the sixth state to join the Union and, the first New England colony. This is the place of the famous Boston Tea Party, the Sons of Liberty and, its capital is Boston. Officially, it is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts but, it has a few nicknames:
The Bay State
The Pilgrim State
The Puritan State
The Old Colony State
The Baked Bean State
It is home to Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Martha’s Vineyard. It is also the home of the ‘real’ Boston Creme Pie, something called a ‘Fluffernutter‘ (that will be celebrated October 8), New England ‘Boston’ clam chowder and cranberries. It was the home of the Springfield Armory (now, a National Historic Site) and the 1692 Salem witch trials.
Notable Bay Staters:
Benjamin Franklin – Founding Father (January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790)
Samuel Adams – Founding Father (September 27, 1722 – October 2, 1803)
Paul Revere – Patriot (January 1, 1735 – May 10, 1818)
John Adams – Founding Father (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826)
John Hancock – 1st Governor of Massachusetts (January 23, 1737 – October 8, 1793)
Eli Whitney – Inventor (December 8, 1765 – January 8, 1825)
John Quincy Adams – 6th U.S. President (July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848)
Ralph Waldo Emerson – Philosopher/Poet (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882)
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. – Physician/Poet (August 29, 1809 – October 7, 1894)
Susan B. Anthony – Women’s Activist (February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906)
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. – Jurist (March 8, 1841 – March 6, 1935)
Richard Buckminster ‘Bucky’ Fuller – Author/Futurist (July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983)
Theodore ‘Dr. Seuss’ Geisel – Author (March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991)
John Fitzgerald Kennedy – 35th U.S. President (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963)
George H. W. Bush – 41st U.S. President (June 12, 1924)
Robert Francis Kennedy – Senator (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968)
Edward Moore ‘Ted’ Kennedy – Senator (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009)
Francis Lee Bailey, Jr. – Attorney (June 10, 1933)
Michael Stanley Dukakis – 65th Governor of Massachusetts (November 3, 1933)
Also celebrated:
National Non-Profit Day
National I Love My Feet Day (I’m not kidding…)
National Thrift Shop Day
Black Cat Appreciation Day (Not to be confused with National Black Cat Day…because black kitties deserve two days to be celebrated!)
Cheers and enjoy!
National Airborne Day
August 16 has four celebrations. National Airborne Day was created by President George ‘W’ Bush in 2001.
On August 16, 1940, a “Test” Platoon led by Major William Lee and consisting of 48 volunteers of the U.S. 29th Infantry Regiment at Fort Benning, GA, made the first U.S. Army parachute jump from an aircraft in order to explore its applications in battle:
During the time between the World Wars, the 29th Infantry Regiment trained infantry soldiers and leaders, demonstrated tactics and tested innovations in Infantry warfare at Fort Benning including providing soldiers for the first parachute unit in the U.S. armed forces.
The first combat jump was in November 1942 when members of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, leapt from a C-47 into North Africa.
Also celebrated:
National Tell A Joke Day (HA!)
National Roller Coaster Day (Weeeee!)
National Rum Day (OMG, YUM)
So, let’s all have a rum drink, ride a roller coaster, tell a joke and cheer on our Airborne folks! Enjoy, everyone!
Military Monday: First Woman Marine

One hundred years ago, today, August 13, 1918, Opha May (Jacob) Johnson, born May 4, 1879, enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve during World War I. She just happened to be the first one in line with 300+ other women behind her.
From the U.S. World War One Centennial Commission:
At the onset and throughout the First World War, women in the United States were still denied the same basic rights and privileges as male citizens, including the right to vote. Suffragists would continue to battle on through this time, but their efforts would not culminate into a constitutional revision until 1920. Not only was the political arena considered off-limits for women, but military service was also denied to them. Though legends of women dressing as males to fight for the United States had been spoken of since the Revolution, women were not allowed to legally enlist in the armed services, the Marine Corps being no exception. By the summer of 1918 however, the Corps was in need of more soldiers, many of whom occupied vital administrative and clerical positions throughout the war department at the time. The idea was circulated and eventually approved to allow women into the marines to fill these non-combat positions, relieving this men to head for the front. From Kokomo, Indiana, Opha May Johnson was first in line when the recruiting station in Washington D.C. opened its doors to women and would become a legend as the first woman Marine.
She passed away August 11, 1955 but, her funeral services were held on August 13, 1955…37 years to the day that she first stood in line.
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution 1964

On this day in 1964, Congress approved the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, effectively entering the U.S. into a conflict that still affects us to this day. This resolution, brought about by the questionable Gulf of Tonkin Incident (also referred to as the USS Maddox incident), gave President Johnson the legal justification for sending U.S. troops to Vietnam, under the guise of assisting a country under the treat of communist aggression.
From This Day In Military History:
“The resolution marked the beginning of an expanded military role for the United States in the Cold War battlefields of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. By 1964, America’s ally, South Vietnam, was in serious danger of falling to a communist insurgency. The insurgents, aided by communist North Vietnam, controlled large areas of South Vietnam and no amount of U.S. military aid and training seemed able to save the southern regime. During the presidencies of Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy, hundreds-and then thousands-of U.S. military advisers had been sent to South Vietnam to train that nation’s military forces. In addition, hundreds of millions of dollars in military and economic assistance had been given to South Vietnam. The administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson made the decision that only direct U.S. military intervention in the conflict could turn the tide. However, Johnson was campaigning in the presidential election of 1964 as the “responsible” candidate who would not send American troops to fight and die in Asia. In early August, a series of events occurred that allowed Johnson to appear statesmanlike while simultaneously expanding the U.S. role in Vietnam. On August 2, North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked an American destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin. Johnson responded by sending in another destroyer. On August 4, the two destroyers reported that they were under attack. This time, Johnson authorized retaliatory air attacks against North Vietnam. He also asked Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. This resolution declared, “The United States regards as vital to its national interest and to world peace the maintenance of international peace and security in Southeast Asia.” It also gave Johnson the right to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.” The House passed the resolution by a unanimous vote. The vote in the Senate was 88 to 2. Johnson’s popularity soared in response to his “restrained” handling of the crisis. The Johnson administration went on to use the resolution as a pretext to begin heavy bombing of North Vietnam in early 1965 and to introduce U.S. combat troops in March 1965. Thus began a nearly eight-year war in which over 58,000 U.S. troops died. In a wider sense, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution can be considered America’s Cold War policy toward all of Southeast Asia at the time. The resolution was also another example of the American government’s less than candid discussion of “national security” matters during the Cold War. Unspoken during the Congressional debate over the resolution was the fact that the commanders of the U.S. destroyers could not state with absolute accuracy that their ships had actually been attacked on the night of August 4, nor was any mention made of the fact that the U.S. destroyers had been assisting South Vietnamese commandos in their attacks on North Vietnamese military installations. By the late 1960s, the tangle of government deceptions and lies began to unravel as public confidence in both Johnson and the American military effort in Vietnam began to erode.”


[My father was in college from 1963 to 1967 and was in the ROTC. I was born at the beginning of his senior year. He came very, very close to going to Vietnam as a 2LT. He became more and more disturbed by reports and stories of what was actually happening over there. The young men that had graduated before him and entered combat…weren’t coming home. Many of the officers that he had started out with during his early years with the ROTC…weren’t coming back. The ones that did manage to return spoke of a “war without direction or purpose” and horrible “death traps”. My father had a crisis of faith, in a way. As a 2LT in the Army, he would have been an Officer that could, potentially, send other young men under him to their deaths. If friends were telling him that the purpose of the war was not completely understood, how could he, in good conscience, participate. He took his concerns to his ROTC CO. That conversation devolved into a shouting match, complete with threats. My father resigned his ‘impending’ commission, despite the protestation of an older officer, stating that “Men like you, we need. We need the common sense approach and conscience you display. You would be a voice of reason and strength that could steady the others.” He would hear none of it. He turned in his uniforms, graduated…and never looked back. My father is still alive, today, because of his decision not to participate. He was never sent a draft card. ~Victoria]
National Pennsylvania Day

July 20 has three celebrations. The most notable of the three is National Moon Day, commemorating Apollo 11 and the 1969 moon walk. Everyone knows about that one.
But, today is also National Pennsylvania Day, a recognition of the second state to join the Union. Known as the ‘Keystone State’, Pennsylvania also served as a temporary Capitol for the U.S….Philadelphia, the site of the signing of The Declaration of Independence and The U.S. Constitution. It is the home of the Original Philly Cheesesteak, the Original Banana Split, Hershey’s Chocolate, Marshmallow Peeps and Twizzlers. It is also the home of the largest concentration of U.S. ‘Pennsylvania Dutch’ Amish.

Notable Pennsylvanians:
Daniel Boone – Frontiersman (November 2, 1734 – September 26, 1820)
Elizabeth Griscom ‘Betsy’ Ross – Flag Maker (January 1, 1752 – January 30, 1836)
James Buchanan – 15th U.S. President (April 23, 1791 – March 4, 1861)
Louisa May Alcott – Author (November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888)
Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman [Nellie Bly] – Journalist (May 4, 1864 – January 27, 1922) [NOTE: Wikipedia reflects May 5]
Lee Iacocca – Auto Executive [Ford & Chrysler] (October 15, 1924)
Arnold Palmer – Golfer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016)
Reginald Reggie Jackson – Baseball Player (May 18, 1946)
Gee. After all that, I think I need to visit!
Also celebrated today:
National Lollipop Day
Cheers and enjoy!
National Postal Worker Day & U.S. Postage Stamp Day

The 1st of July is a very busy day of celebration for the nation, leading up to Independence Day. It’s National Postal Worker Day, established in 1997 by a Seattle area carrier. I have two high school classmates that are postmen. They both really enjoy it. It can be a tough job, though.
If you are thinking “Neither rain nor sleet nor snow…” or something along those lines, the U.S. Post Office doesn’t have an “official” motto, really. There seems to be a bit of confusion from a modified translation of Herodotus’ quote regarding the courier service of the Persian Empire:
There is nothing in the world which travels faster than the Persian couriers. The whole idea is a Persian invention, and works like this: riders are stationed along the road, equal in number to the number of days the journey takes – a man and a horse for each day. Nothing stops these couriers from covering their allotted stage in the quickest possible time – neither snow, rain, heat, nor darkness. The first, at the end of his stage, passes the dispatch to the second, the second to the third, and so on along the line, as in the Greek torch-race which is held in honour of Hephaestus.

It’s also U.S. Postage Stamp Day…naturally. The very first postage stamp was issued on July 1, 1847 but, no one seems to know who created the National Day for it. Lost to history, I suppose.
Also celebrated today:
National Creative Ice Cream Flavors Day
National Gingersnap Day
Cheers and enjoy!
Military Monday: Korean War Begins 1950

The United States, acting under the auspices of the United Nations, quickly sprang to the defense of South Korea and fought a bloody and frustrating war for the next three years. Korea, a former Japanese possession, had been divided into zones of occupation following World War II. U.S. forces accepted the surrender of Japanese forces in southern Korea, while Soviet forces did the same in northern Korea. Like in Germany, however, the “temporary” division soon became permanent. The Soviets assisted in the establishment of a communist regime in North Korea, while the United States became the main source of financial and military support for South Korea. On June 25, 1950, North Korean forces surprised the South Korean army (and the small U.S. force stationed in the country), and quickly headed toward the capital city of Seoul. The United States responded by pushing a resolution through the U.N.’s Security Council calling for military assistance to South Korea. (Russia was not present to veto the action as it was boycotting the Security Council at the time.) With this resolution in hand, President Harry S. Truman rapidly dispatched U.S. land, air, and sea forces to Korea to engage in what he termed a “police action.” The American intervention turned the tide, and U.S. and South Korean forces marched into North Korea. This action, however, prompted the massive intervention of communist Chinese forces in late 1950. The war in Korea subsequently bogged down into a bloody stalemate. In 1953, the United States and North Korea signed a cease-fire that ended the conflict. The cease-fire agreement also resulted in the continued division of North and South Korea at just about the same geographical point as before the conflict. The Korean War was the first “hot” war of the Cold War. Over 55,000 American troops were killed in the conflict. Korea was the first “limited war,” one in which the U.S. aim was not the complete and total defeat of the enemy, but rather the “limited” goal of protecting South Korea. For the U.S. government, such an approach was the only rational option in order to avoid a third world war and to keep from stretching finite American resources too thinly around the globe. It proved to be a frustrating experience for the American people, who were used to the kind of total victory that had been achieved in World War II. The public found the concept of limited war difficult to understand or support and the Korean War never really gained popular support.
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