Today in History, February 26: 1919 – President Woodrow Wilson designates the Grand Canyon as a National Park. His nemesis and predecessor, President Theodore Roosevelt, had designated the Grand Canyon as a National Monument in 1908. Thanks, guys!
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A First in History
Today in History, February 25: 1870 – On a strict party line vote (we’ve heard that a lot lately) of 48 Republicans for and 8 Democrats against, Methodist minister Hiram Rhodes of Mississippi is confirmed as the first African-American US Senator, the first African-American member of Congress. Rhodes had been a minister, had helped raise the first two black regiments to fight in the Civil War, had been a veteran of the Battle of Vicksburg in Mississippi. Ironically he had served in Lincolnton, North Carolina as a barber with his brother, and served in a seminary in UNION county, Indiana. Democrats had attempted to use the 1857 Dredd Scott decision, A ridiculous Supreme Court decision that decided black people were not citizens, as a basis for preventing Rhodes from attaining the Senate seat.
The Amistad Trial
Today in History, February 24: 1840 – US Representative John Quincy Adams, a former President, begins his defense of slaves aboard the Amistad, a Spanish slave ship which was transporting them to Cuba to be sold. The slaves killed the ship’s Captain and forced the crew to sail them back to Africa…the crew instead took them to the US. The case went all the way to the US Supreme Court, where Adams argued for their return to their home. He won the argument….but not the funds to return them. The funds would have to be raised from sympathetic Americans.
Adams would continue to serve in the House until he collapsed at his desk, and died two days later on February 23, 1848. Several of his decendants would serve prominently in the government.
Setting Precedents
Today in History, February 24: 1803 – Marbury vs. Madison. The Supreme Court establishes the principle of Judicial Review. In a case fraught with typical American skullduggery, the US Supreme Court gains it’s power. In the election of 1800, Thomas Jefferson had defeated the one term John Adams. In the time before the end of his term, Adams appointed as many judges and justice of the peace as he could, even working with his fellow party members to increase the number of judges. This resulted in the infamous “midnight judges” that were appointed at the last minute. Adams’ Secretary of State, John Marshall, wasn’t able to deliver all of the commissions to the judges and justices of the peace in time before Adams’ term ended, but figured the new Secretary of State, James Madison, would do so. He did not. Realizing they’d been snookered, Jefferson and Madison’s party did not deliver the new commissions. One of the Justices of the Peace, William Marbury, sued. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court…whose Chief Justice now was…John Marshall. Marshall made a decision that was a master stroke. The Court decided that the commissions should have been delivered…but at the same time decided that the court could not enforce the decision because Marbury did not have standing to file suit. While this initially seemed to emasculate the Court…in the end the decision established that the Court could render Congressional acts Unconstitutional if it chose to do so. The are dozens of examples of why appointments to the Court are important, not the least of which we are watching play out now.
A Life Saving Decision?
Today in History, February 23: 1861 – President elect Abraham Lincoln arrives at Washington DC’s Willard Hotel. He had intended to travel to Baltimore on his trip from Illinois to DC, but his wife and an ardent supporter, Chicago Detective Allan Pinkerton talked him out of the Baltimore stop. Pinkerton had taken it upon himself to infiltrate a secessionist group and discovered a plot to assassinate Lincoln while he was in Baltimore. Pinkerton’s information likely saved Lincoln’s life. I’ve often wondered what would have happened if President Lincoln hadn’t been assassinated in 1865, what our country would look like today if he had handled reconstruction and reunification with his patience and kindness. One also has to wonder what the country would look like had he never even made it into the White House.
“Where Else Would We Find Him?”
Today in History, February 21: 1848 – “Where else would we find him?” Former President, former Secretary of State, Former US Senator from Massachusetts, current Representative to the House John Quincy Adams, collapses after suffering a stroke while vehemently stating his opinion on the House floor. Adams had, by most reports, been a mediocre President. However he had authored the Monroe Doctrine telling European nations that America was in charge of police actions in the Western Hemisphere; he had served as the Ambassador to the Court of St. James (England); had negotiated the ceding of Florida to the US from Spain; had acted as the attorney for the slaves in the Amistad Trial; stated his vehement abolitionist views, and served 17 years in the House after his Presidency…because that’s what a servant to the people was supposed to do. His contemporaries were not surprised that he would die while serving the people. He was carried to the office of the Speaker of the House, where he would die two days later. What an example!
Where There’s a Will…
Today in History, February 21: 1896 – It was illegal. The Governor of Texas called a special session of the legislature specifically to make sure it didn’t happen in Texas. The Governor of Arkansas threatened to enlarge the state penitentiary to hold anyone that was involved. The Federal Government ruled that it would NOT happen in Indian Territory. No other state would step up to allow it. But the promoters were tenacious…and Judge Roy Bean had a reputation for making money. The World Championship Boxing champion from 1895 had retired…after watching his sparring partner being dropped within seconds by a young up-and-comer Irish boxer named Peter Maher. So the challenger, Australian Bob Fitzsimmons wanted to fight Maher. In an attempt to find a place for the “prize fight”, which was illegal in the US and Mexico, So Judge Roy Bean and other promoters arranged for the viewers to meet in El Paso, where they would be taken to a secret location for the fight. Would it be on a barge in the Gulf? A special train left El Paso and stopped at Langtry, Texas. The entire party…fighters, promoters, audience, soldiers, Texas Rangers, soon found themselves at a ring Bean had set up on a sandbar in the middle of the Rio Grande River…where the Army, the Rangers and the Mexican Federales could not stop it. Within seconds, Fitzsimmons, bruised by a quick attack by Maher, blitzed in return and took Maher down, becoming the World Heavyweight Champion before the Edison Kinetoscope could even be set up to film the event.
An American Hero
Today in History, February 20: 1942 – Lt. Edward “Butch” O’Hare saves his ship. The USS Lexington was initiating a raid on Rabaul, a Japanese stronghold. However the Task Force was spotted, and many Japanese aircraft were sent to destroy the valuable aircraft carrier. Lt. O’Hare was part of the “CAP”, or Combat Air Patrol for the Lexington (CV-2).
O’Hare singe-handedly shot down five of the attacking “Betty” bombers, effectively saving his ship, one of the few aircraft carriers the United States had available at the time. This also made him the US Navy’s first ace of WWII. About a year later, O’Hare, ever the hero, would be lost in unknown circumstances in one of the first night time fighter operations. O’Hare Airport in Chicago is named for Butch. What many people don’t know is that this American hero, who gave the “last full measure of devotion” for his country, was the son of a gangster. His father had been Al Capone’s lawyer. The senior O’Hare (Fast Eddie), according to the story, had exchanged his testimony against Capone for a chance for his son to enter the Naval Academy. He paid with his life, gunned down by Capone’s thugs. As a result, thousands of American sailors aboard the Lexington were saved due to Butch’s heroism.
Sickles, Key, & Stanton
Today in History, February 19: 1859 – New York Congressman Daniel E. Sickles is acquitted of murder using a temporary insanity defense, the first time this defense was used in US courts. Sickles was quite a character…he had been censored by Congress more than once, most prominently for having brought a known prostitute into the House chamber, and then taking her to England and introducing her to Queen Victoria while his wife was at home pregnant. Despite this, he was enraged when his wife confessed to him that she had been carrying on an affair with the District Attorney for the District of Columbia, Phillip Barton Key II (Francis Scott Key’s son…you know..the Star Spangled Banner author). Sickles confronted Key in Lafayette Square, across the street from the Executive Mansion (White House) and shot him dead. Sickles then went to the Attorney General’s home, turned himself in and confessed. Future Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton defended Sickles at his trial, painting the wife as a cheating harlot, and securing Sickles’ acquittal. Sickles went back to his wife, which enraged his supporters much more than the murder. When the Civil War began, Sickles used his influence to recruit NY volunteers and gain a political generalship, something that was possible in those days. With no military experience he actually made a good accounting of himself in several battles. Ironically, his most controversial act was yet to come. At the pivotal Battle of Gettysburg, his III Corps was assigned a portion of the Union lines on Cemetery Ridge. On his own he decided to move his unit forward to higher ground, which thinned his lines and left a gap in the Union lines, and blatantly ignored the orders of the commander of the Army of the Potomac, General Meade. Confederate General James Longstreet’s Corps attacked and decimated Sickles’ command, costing Sickles his leg. The controversy amongst historians is whether Sickles sacrifice of his Corps helped or hurt the Union’s chances of victory. In the end the Union could count Gettysburg as a victory, but in my humble opinion, the ambitious Sickles had little to do with it. He put it at risk. In his later years Sickles served as Minister to Spain (continuing his womanizing there) and returned to the legislature. He spent much effort in creating the Gettysburg National Military Park and in denigrating Gen. Meade, while promoting himself as the true reason for the victory at Gettysburg. After lobbying for 34 years, he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery in the battle. Perhaps most telling is the fact that there are memorials to almost all of the generals involved in the battle at the Park, but not for Sickles. Good or bad, between his killing of Francis Scott Key’s son, his pioneering use of the insanity defense, and his military career, Sickles’ story is fascinating.
Reversal of Fortunes Among Friends
Today in History, February 18, 1862: “I know you are separated from your people, and perhaps you need funds. My purse is at your disposal.” Union General Ulysses Grant to Confederate General Simon Bolivar Buckner as Buckner prepared to board a river boat taking him north to a Yankee prison.
On February 16, 1862 after a hard-fought battle and investment, Confederate Fort Donelson in Tennessee had surrendered to Union forces. Tennessee was a strategic area in the Civil War, providing resources, people and a launching point to move against the rest of the South. General U.S. Grant had been little known to the public before this battle, but the battle would change all that. He coordinated with the US Navy to bombard Ft. Donelson and surround the 12,000 men there. After assaults and counter assaults, the Confederate commanders came to the realization loss of the fort was a foregone conclusion, a tragedy for the South. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner was actually third in command. His superiors resigned their positions so they could sneak out and escape. Col. Nathan Bedford Forrest took some of his Cavalry and fled also, leaving Buckner to stay with his men and surrender.
Buckner sent a note through the lines asking Grant for terms. And here is where Grant became famous. He wrote out his response for delivery to Buckner,
“No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works.”
In a time when furloughs and exchanges were common in battle, Buckner found the response to be “ungenerous and unchivalrous.” Yet he had no choice, his only option was surrender. Having had little but bad news for some time, the Northern papers seized upon the victory. They used Grants initials to rename him “Unconditional Surrender Grant.” Turns out it wasn’t the first name others had changed his name for him, but that’s another story. The public was finding out something those serving with Grant had learned…he was unpretentious, unceremonious and tenacious. He got results. President Lincoln would eventually say of him, “I can’t spare this man; he fights.”
If you want History to be more than dates on a page, watch out for the back stories…the facts that bring out the humanity in what you’re reading.
The story reads good already. But lets dig further.
When Grant was younger, he wanted an education. His father worked hard and secured him an appointment to West Point. Initially, Grant didn’t want to go. But once in, he liked it. His uncanny horsemanship impressed fellow cadets and instructors. And he made friends among the other cadets, including Simon Bolivar Buckner, who was attending at the same time.
Grant and Buckner, among many other officers in the US Army, served together and performed heroics in the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848.
After that conflict Grant found himself assigned to the frontier in California, where he missed his family grievously and took to drink. In July of 1854 he suddenly resigned his commission from the Army and sought transport home.
Grant found himself in New York without even enough money to get a meal or pay for a room. And then he happened upon an old classmate and friend, Simon Bolivar Buckner. The two enjoyed a visit, talked old times and Buckner, who was doing much better financially, paid for his friend’s room and board.
In the intervening years until 1861 and the beginning of the Civil War, Grant was somewhat of a hard luck case. He tried farming, he tried real estate, nothing worked. When the war began he was working for his brothers and his father in a store as a clerk.
When Southern states began seceding many in the US Army that were from those states, resigned their commissions and joined the Confederate Army, including Buckner. Thus the old friends found themselves on opposite sides. And Grant sought out Buckner before he went off to prison in an attempt to return an old favor.
Grant, of course, would become commander of all Union Armies and eventually President. Buckner would eventually be exchanged for a Union general officer and continue to serve in the Confederate Army. He surrendered in New Orleans in 1865 for a second time. He would become Governor of Kentucky among other political successes. In 1904 he visited the White House and asked President Theodore Roosevelt to appoint his son to West Point. TR quickly agreed. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr would be killed at Okinawa in WWII, the highest ranking officer killed by enemy fire in WWII.
