Category: History

Sooners!

Today in History, April 22: 1889 – The Oklahoma Land Run…each person that managed to stake out a 160 acre area on this date, and promised to improve it, would have that land for free in “Indian Territory”. Many snuck in early…why we are called “Sooners”. Amazingly, before the end of the day…the streets of Guthrie and Oklahoma City would be laid out…and their population would exceed 10,000 each.

Battle of San Jacinto

Today in History, April 21: 1836 – During the Battle of San Jacinto, Texian militia led by Gen. Sam Houston surprises and routs the army of professional Mexican soldiers led by Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna. Santa Anna was captured and held as a prisoner of war, soon agreeing to a treaty that ostensibly recognized Texas as an independent nation. Houston was an instant national (Texas and America) hero. Usually history is seen as snapshots in time, but there are so many stories expanding from here. As for Santa Anna, he was like a cat…he seemed to have 9 lives and repeatedly came back from defeat. Fast forward about 25 years and Houston was Governor of the State of Texas…and would resign the post rather than swear allegiance to the Confederacy, perhaps because he had fought so long and hard to make Texas part of the Union. Today, you can visit the battlefield at San Jacinto, and while you’re at it tour the USS Texas, the only remaining battleship to have served in both WWI and WWII.

How Can I Draw My Sword Upon Virginia?

Today in History, April 20: 1861 – “Mr. Blair, I look upon secession as anarchy. If I owned the four millions of slaves in the South I would sacrifice them all to the Union; but how can I draw my sword upon Virginia, my native state?” Robert E. Lee was the son of a Revolutionary War hero (Light Horse Harry Lee). He was a graduate of West Point, and would serve as superintendent of the USMA (West Point). He was a hero of the Mexican-American War, and was respected as the best officer, the best engineer, in the US Army. The Administration offered him the command of the defenses around Washington, but he turned it down, he could not raise his sword against his “country” of Virginia. On this date, Lee resigned his commission in the US Army and went home, after 32 years of service to the US Army. 3 days later he would accept a command in the Virginia militia, surprising even his family. Lee is such an enigma. He was a dedicated servant to his country, but served with the same dedication to the Confederacy. After the war, he acted as a gentleman in efforts to bring the nation back together. Whether we approve of his decisions or not, we can only see Robert E. Lee as an American. 

Sometimes Endings are Actually Beginnings

Today in History, April 19: 1876 – Wyatt Earp is not “rehired” by the Wichita Police Department. Earp had already had a storied career as a lawman and sometimes horse thief. He took a job as an officer in Wichita, and out of loyalty to the man that hired him, beat the laundry off of a competing candidate for the Sheriff’s job.  A commission voted not to renew Earp’s employment….he moved to Dodge City and became a lawman there before moving to Tombstone, Arizona and into legend. One of his fellow officers was his friend Bat Masterson.

Avenging Pearl Harbor…Again

Today in History, April 18: 1943 – One year to the day after US forces avenged the attack on Pearl Harbor by bombing the Japanese mainland, including Tokyo, they carried out “Operation Vengeance”, a plan to assassinate the high level IJN Admiral who had planned the assault on Pearl Harbor, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. Yamamoto had studied in the US before the war, and had seen our incredible industrial capacity, and seen Americans as most Japanese had not. The 1970 movie Tora, Tora, Tora quotes him as saying after the attack, “I fear all that we have done is to awake a sleeping giant, and fill him with a terrible resolve”. The quote cannot be verified, but his belief in the statement can; as his comrades celebrated in the days after Pearl Harbor, he was nearly despondent. When American cryptographers discovered that he would be at Rabaul on a trip to improve morale after the loss of Guadalcanal, orders from the highest levels of American government and forces, (FDR – Nimitz – Halsey) ordered his demise. A squadron of long range P-38 Lightning twin engine fighters ambushed Yamamoto’s Betty bomber and sent it flaming into the jungle below while his Zero escort looked on helplessly.

Brazil Attacks!

Today in History, April 17: 1945 – After a three day battle, Montese, Italy is liberated by…Brazilian Army forces. The Brazilians fought valiantly against German Nazis to gain control of the Italian city. It had been a long trek to this point. When the war started, Brazil, led by an almost fascist leader, was “neutral”. After several Brazilian ships were sunk by U-Boats, the Brazilian public made it impossible for the government to remain neutral…Brazil first cut off diplomatic relations with the Axis powers, and then declared war on them. The Brazilian Army, Air Force, and Navy fought primarily in the Italian campaign.

Running Vicksburg….

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Today in History, April 16: 1863 – Navy. Littoral. Riverine. Inter-branch cooperation. Amphibious. Most of these terms are not recognized by most until World War II or Vietnam. But they became reality much earlier…in The Civil War. Union Generals Grant and Sherman had been trying to take Vicksburg, Mississippi for six months without success. Grant tried to move his troops past Vicksburg on the Louisiana side, but the swampy terrain made it slow going. So, thinking “outside the box”, he called upon the Navy…He and Navy Admiral David Dixon Porter designed to have Grant’s soldiers moved south past the batteries at Vicksburg via the Mississippi River, using numerous Ironclads, Riverboats, and barges. The idea was to sneak past the Confederate cannon..but the rebels spotted the passing ships and a battle ensued. One ship and two barges were lost, but the vast majority of Grant’s forces made it to their destination. They then lay siege to Vickburg, which they had now cut off from reinforcement or resupply. By July 4th, Vicksburg fell to Grant and Sherman’s forces. When we think of the US Navy, we think of Frigates, Ships of the Line, Battleships, or Aircraft Carriers, depending on the time in history, sailing the seas. But many of our Navy’s victories were won in shallow waters or on rivers. The Navy used “Littoral”, or shallow water ships, and “Riverine”, or river tactics in numerous conflicts. Vicksburg and other Mississippi Civil War battles displayed the use of Navy – Army cooperation.

Great Flood of ’27

Today in History, April 15: 1927 – “”The roaring Mississippi River, bank and levee full from St. Louis to New Orleans, is believed to be on its mightiest rampage…All along the Mississippi considerable fear is felt over the prospects for the greatest flood in history.” –The Memphis Commercial Appeal. The rains had been pouring down almost continuously across the Mississippi River Valley (yes that includes Oklahoma) for almost a year. On this day in 1927 the rains increased. Rivers all over the mid-west, already swollen past capacity, emptied into the Mississippi River. Soon the levies began to break all along the river, inundating the rich farmland on either side of the river’s normal course. Over 27,000 square miles were covered in 30 feet of water, a stretch at points 90 miles wide. To draw a comparison, Oklahoma covers nearly 70,000 sq. miles…so picture, if you can, everything in Oklahoma east of I-35 under 30 feet of water. Only 250 people lost their lives, a miracle considering that nearly 1,000,000 people lived in the affected region. It was the worst river flood in American history; and still is. http://youtu.be/ouWcmvYDfy4

O Captain, My Captain!

Today in History, April 14: 1865 – President Lincoln is assassinated at Ford’s Theater in DC.  He would die the next morning in a home accross the street. A few months later poet Walt Whitman would publish a poem which would voice the mood of the nation. 
    O Captain! My Captain! our fearful trip is done;

    The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;

    The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,

    While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
        But O heart! heart! heart!

        O the bleeding drops of red,

        Where on the deck my Captain lies,

        Fallen cold and dead.
    O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;

    Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills;

    For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding;

    For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
        O captain! dear father!

        This arm beneath your head;

        It is some dream that on the deck,

        You’ve fallen cold and dead.
    My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;

    My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;

    The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;

    From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;
        Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!

        But I, with mournful tread,

        Walk the deck my captain lies,
            Fallen cold and dead.