Private Joseph De Freitas.

Private Joseph De Freitas of Yonkers, New York, 41st Armored Infantry Regiment, 2nd US Armored Division.  France.

Pvt De Freitas is heating food on a portable stove and is wearing the World War Two U.S. camouflage uniform which is rarely seen in photos from the ETO as it was found to confuse American solders with German troops, who more frequently wore camouflage.  Usually when it is seen, it is worn by snipers, but no sniping rifle is depicted in this July 1944 photograph.  De Freitos is carrying binoculars or perhaps a monocular, so he may have had a spotting role of some sort, or perhaps his rifle just isn't in the photograph.  However, he was assigned to an anti tank section, so its probable that his role at the time had something to do with spotting.

De Freitas was Portuguese by birth and had only come to the United States in 1937.  He entered the Army in March, 1941 and served until October, 1945.  He saw action in North Africa, Sicily, France, Holland and Germany, and therefore was an exceptionally experienced soldier.  After the war he married Beatrice Cabral de Mellow in the Church of the Ascension in New York City.  He became a carpenter for the U.S. Postal Service and worked for it until his retirement in 1973.  He died in 2005 at age 89.

August 20, 1619. Slavery comes to British America

The date isn't known with precision.  Only that it occurred in August.  But this date, August 20, is used as the usual date for the event when a slaver arrived off the port at Port Comfort, Virginia, carrying 20 to 30 African who were held in bondage and sold into slavery.

The event marked the return of the English to being a slave owning society.  Slavery had been abolished by the Normans after conquering Anglo Saxon Britain in 1066 and while it's common to see claims of other types of servitude, including involuntary servitude, equating with slavery, they do not.  Slavery is unique.

And late European chattel slavery, which commenced with the expansion of European powers into African waters and into the Americas, was particularly unique and in someways uniquely horrific.

Slavery itself was not introduce to African populations by Europeans; they found it there upon their arrival, but they surprisingly accommodated themselves to participating in it very rapidly.  Europeans had been the victims of Arab slavers for a long time themselves, who raided both for the purposes of acquiring forced labor, and fairly horrifically, for forced concubinage, the latter sort of slave having existed in their society for perhaps time immemorial but which had been licensed by Muhammad in the Koran.  Arab slave traders had been quite active in Africa early on, purchasing slaves from those who had taken them as prisoners of war, an ancient way of dealing with such prisoners, and the Europeans, starting really with the Portuguese, seemingly stepped right into it as Europe's seafaring powers grew.

Having waned tremendously in Europe following the rise of Christianity, European powers somehow found themselves tolerating the purchase and transportation for resale of Africans for European purchasers by the 15th Century, with most of those purchasers being ultimately located in the Americas.

The English were somewhat slow to become involved.  It wasn't clear at first if slavery was legal under English Common Law and the English lacked statutory clarification on the point such as had been done with other European powers.  Early English decisions were unclear on the point. However, starting with the 17th Century, the institution worked its way into English society, even as opposition to it grew from the very onset.

The importation of slaves to English populations was not limited to North American, but it was certainly the absolute strongest, in the English speaking world, in England's New World colonies.  While every European seafaring power recognized slavery by the mid 17th Century, the really powerful markets were actually limited to the Caribbean, English North American, and Portuguese Brazil.  European slavery existed everywhere in the New World, and no country with colonies in North America was exempt from it, but it was strongest in these locations.

And slavery as reintroduced by Europeans was uniquely abhorrent.  Slavery, it is often noted, has existed in most advanced and semi advanced societies at some point, but slavery also was normally based in warfare and economics nearly everywhere.  I.e., it was a means of handling conquered armies, conquered peoples, and economic distress.  The word "servant" and "slave" in ancient Greek was the same word for this latter reason.  In eras in which resources were tight and there was little other means of handling these situations, slavery was applied as the cruel solution.

But it wasn't raced based.  The slavery that the Europeans applied was. Even Arab slavery, which was ongoing well before the Europeans joined in and continued well after, was not based on race but status.  If a lot of Arab slaves were black in the 17th Century, that was mostly due to an environment existing which facilitated that. Earlier, a lot of forced concubine Arab slaves, for example, were Irish.  The Arabs were equal opportunity slavers.

Europeans were not.  European slaves were nearly always black, and even examples of trying to note occasions in which Indians were held as slaves are very strained.  And because it was raced based, it took on a unique inhuman quality.  Slavery wasn't justified on the basis that the slaves were prisoners of war that had fallen into that state, but that the state was better than death, nor were they held on the basis that they had sold themselves or had been sold into servitude due to extreme poverty, and that was better than absolute destitution.  It wasn't even justified on a likely misapplied allowance granted by Muhammad for slaves that were held due to war, and could be used for carnal purposes, reinterpreted (I'm guessing) for convenient purposes.  It was simply that they were black and, therefore, something about that made them suitable for forced labor.

And forced labor it was.  Servants in the ancient world had often been servants and even tutors.  While it did become common in North America to use slaves as household domestics, most slaves in North America performed heavy agricultural labor their entire lives.  It was awful and they worked in awful conditions.

And it tainted the early history of the country in a way that's ongoing to this day.  With opposition to its reintroduction right from the onset, but the late 18th Century it was clear that its abhorrent nature meant it was soon to go out everywhere.  Almost every European country abolished it very early in the 19th Century, which is still shockingly late.  It was falling into disfavor in the northern part of the British North American by the Revolution, in part because agriculture in the North was based on a developed agrarian pattern while in the South the planter class engaged in production agriculture (making it ironic that the yeoman class would be such a feature of the American south).  The pattern of agriculture had meant that there were comparatively few slaves in the north.  This is not to say it was limited to the South, however.  Slavery even existed in Quebec.

With the Revolution came the belief that slavery would go out, but it didn't.  By that time the American South had a huge black slave population.  Slavery would if anything become entrenched in the South, where most of the American black population lived, and it would take the worst war in the nation's history to abolish it.  So horrific was that war that even today the descendants of those who fought to keep men slaves sometimes strain the confines of history to find an excuse for what their ancestors did.  And following their Emancipation, the nation did a poor job of addressing the racism that had allowed it to exist.  It wasn't until the second quarter of the 20th Century that things really began to change, with the Great Migration occurring first, followed by a slow improvement in status following World War One, followed by a rapid one after World War Two that culminated in the Civil Rights Era of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.

But the stain of slavery lingers on in innumerable ways even now.  Having taken to slavery in 1619, and having tolerated it for over two hundred years thereafter, and having struggled with how to handle the residual effects of that for a century thereafter, we've still failed to really absorb the impact of the great sin of our colonial predecessor.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an shameful condition.
In a sense we've come to our nation's Capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.
This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check; a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.
Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?"
We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.
We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.
We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.
We can never be satisfied as long as our chlidren are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "for whites only."
We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.
No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, that one day right down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exhalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I will go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning, "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrims' pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But not only that; let freedom ring from the Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Rev. Martin Luther King, August 28, 1963.

St. Valentine's Day, 1919. The Polish Soviet War commenced, Quixotic Portuguese Monarchist fail, Blizzard shuts things down, League of Nations floated, Novel spellings.

Heroic late war Polish poster.

The Polish Soviet War commenced on this date in 1914 when Polish troops were allowed to occupy a town in current day Belarus by the Germans, as part of the German withdrawal from the region, and were soon thereafter attacked by the Red Army.

The war would go on until March, 1921.

The results of the war are surprisingly disputed.  By most measures it would have to be regarded as a Polish victory given that they held off the Red Army even to the point of defending Warsaw against a Soviet offensive.  Moreover, the first Red Army attack had been given a name that suggested Warsaw was its goal.

Soviet propaganda poster showing the Red Army as liberators.

On the other hand, the initial Polish counteroffensives had been enormously successful and the Polish Army had been able to maintain that stance for quite some time during the war, advancing into territory they disputed in Russia and Ukraine.  The reversals in fortune were enormous and the Poles nearly retreated to the German border in the late stages of the war.  Still, Red Army losses during the Battle of Warsaw late in the war were so severe that the Poles were given a border that closely approximated that of the 1772 partition and therefore granted them most of the territory they were seeking,including the debatable Lithuanian town of Vilnius.  By and large, the Poles gained the territory they were seeking, although less than that which Pilsudski would have wanted for a greater Poland.

Polish propaganda poster showing Polish cavalry, which in fact there was a lot of, fighting bestial troops of the Red Army.

The war at least arguably put an end to the Trotsky vision of marching through Poland and on into Germany and likely cemented a growing rift between Stalin who wished thereafter to build Communism in what remained of the Russian Empire as opposed to Trotsky who argued for an immediate global revolution.

Polish solders with captured Soviet battle flags.  The Red Army may have been a new people's army in theory, but in the field it kept the trappings of earlier armies in having battle flags.

Poland, it might be noted, founds itself in substantial wars from the very first moment of the "Peace" of November 1918.  It's amazing it survived as a state.  It fought all of its neighbors to some degree in one way or another.

Meanwhile, in Portugal, a quixotic effort to restore the Portuguese monarchy, which had never received the endorsement of the former Portuguese royal family, ended and with it the self declared Portuguese Monarchy Of The North.

Portuguese monarchist who fought for a monarchy whose former leaders didn't endorse it.

It's flat out bizarre to contemplate a rebel movement to restore a monarchy occurring in 1919 when in many other nations rebels had successfully operated to depose their nation's monarchies.  Yet, in Portugal, such an attempt was oddly made.  It's hard to figure really, but it is perhaps best understood in the context of it being an ultra conservative revolution with no place to go.

Well, closer to home, sort of . . . .

The Tribune had a headline that today would cause people to recall its occasional nickname, the "Casper Red Star", what with its reference to a "World Constitution".  This referred, of course, to a stout League of Nations.

Rumors were afloat about bribery being a factor on a bill for a new county and a "dry" rally was being planned.

And news of a big blizzard was being reported everywhere in the state.

Hopefully that blizzard wouldn't delay the return of the returning Guardsmen of the 116th Ammunition Train which were anticipated to be home within a week.

The Cheyenne paper remembered it was Valentine's Day.

The second Cheyenne paper noted that communications with the East hung on by a thread, due to the blizzard.

Interestingly, but also without details, that paper also reported that "Dean Huston", a Cheyenne clergyman, would be choosing between two parishes for his new assignment back east.  No other substantial details were provided, but it's likely that he was an Episcopal churchman as the Episcopal Church used that title and that would make sense in context.

And finally the pressed for space Laramie Boomerang resorted to Rooseveltian phonetic spelling, as Wyoming papers in this era occasionally did, for their headline, changing Cheyenne to Chian.  

Theodore Roosevelt, who in spite of his genius was somewhat spealling challenged, had advocated for this movement which would have altered the somewhat bizarre spellings common in English to phonetic ones at large and tried writing that way himself for awhile, but like everyone else, he gave it up. For a brief time, however, Wyoming newspapers would resort to it if headlines seemingly required it, as here.

December 14, 1918. Post War Diplomacy, Elections, and Violence

December 14, 1918, saw the playing out of several stories that we have been following here over a period of years, or at least significant steps in those stories.

Woodrow Wilson was in Parish, and he was being treated as a hero by a people who were grateful that American soldiers had arrived when they did.

Wilson riding in a carriage with French President Poincare.

The United Kingdom held its first post war election, and the first in its history in which women could vote.  It's remembered in the UK for that, and in Ireland for something else, with both stories a bit muddled.

There was only one general election in the United Kingdom in 1918, in spite of some reporting this as "Ireland also held an election".  Every time the United Kingdom held an election, Ireland held one. What was different about this election, however, is that republican Sinn Fein stood a full slate of candidates in Ireland and took 47% of the vote with Home Rule supporting Irish Parliamentary Party, formerly the most powerful Irish party in Parliament, taking only 21%. The balance went to Unionist, whose strength also increased in this election.

Eamon de Valera, the head of Sinn Fein and a giant in Irish political history.

That clearly didn't give Sinn Fein enough to be an absolute majority of Irish representation in Parliament, but it was close enough and it took the position that it was entitled to form a separate Irish parliament, the Dail, which it did, thereby developing a strategy in which it claimed political legitimacy by way of the British Parliamentary election for its national aspirations.  The first Dail claimed to be the legitimate ruling body for all of Ireland, and war would soon follow.  In essence Sinn Fien had succeeded in using legitimate British machinery for its own aims, which was a brilliant strategy.

While the strategy would ultimately succeed, it's of note that over half of the residents of Ireland actually didn't vote for an independent nation.  Nearly half did.  That immediately proved impossible for the United Kingdom to ignore, but Irish nationhood also required the new Dail to ignore the 30% of the population that had voted for strict union and the 21% of the Irish nation that had been satisfied with home rule.

Still, Sinn Fein's showing was sufficiently impressive that it took over 4% of the British election, meaning that as a new party its showing was still impressive even in that election, which it was really part of.  

David Lloyd George took the British election with a coalition government, thereby retaining his seat as Prime Minister.

Lloyd George effectively ran as the head of a new party, but he was enormously popular in 1918, thereby allowing him to escape the fate Churchill endured in 1945.

In Portugal, the strongman president Sidonio Pais was assassinated at a railway station.  A controversial figure, the assassination by a leftist would destabilize the Portuguese government beyond the point of recovery.

Pais had essentially ruled in the classic Roman dictator style, and was termed the President King.  Coming into power through his parliamentary position during a crisis in World War One, which he'd opposed Portugal entering into, he ruled to an extent by decree in violation of a constitution he'd helped draft.  He retained a fair measure of popularity for much of his term in office, however, in spite of that and generally acted as a populist.  He was essential to what Portuguese unity there was, which his death unfortunately demonstrated.

Communism, Mary, and 1917 | Catholic Answers

We discussed the Fatima apparitions here:

Lex Anteinternet: The Miracle of the Sun, October 13, 1917.

Our Lady Derzhavnaya, Icon, found in Kolomenskoye, Russia after having been lost during Napoleanic invasion.

The Miracle of the Sun, October 13, 1917.

July 13, 1917. Columbus in the News Again, Conscription, and something going on at Fatima

Roads to the Great War: The Great War's Most Memorable Religious Event The Apparitions at Fatima

This interesting podcast doesn't go into them in depth, but discusses some other interesting aspects of this story:

Communism, Mary, and 1917 | Catholic Answers

Lex Anteinternet: The Miracle of the Sun, October 13, 1917.

A rare Sunday Morning Rerun.

As in, I think, the first ever.  

But we just ran this on its anniversary a couple of days ago, and therefore its appropriate.

Lex Anteinternet: The Miracle of the Sun, October 13, 1917.:

Yesterday we reported on the soggy First Battle of Passchendael, an event so wet that artillery fire proved ineffective and the New Zealand army accordingly had the worst day in its history.

I don't know how widespread the October rains were in 1917, but I do know that it had been wet in Portugal as well, as that's well recorded in regards to the Miracle of the Sun, the final 1917 event associated with the Marian apparitions at Fatima, Portugal, that year.

 

As noted here earlier, there had been an entire series of reports of Marian Apparitions in 1917, most of which occurred at Fatima but one report of which occurred in Russia.   This event is distinctly different from the earlier events as it was widely viewed by numerous people and came on the date that had been predicted by the three peasant children who had been reporting the Portuguese apparitions.

By this point, the Fatima apparitions had been receiving press reports and accordingly it had been reported that the peasant children had related that the vision of the Lady they had been seeing had promised a miracle so that "all may believe".  Large crowed accordingly gathered on the day of the predicted miracle.  The day was rainy but the clouds broke and the sun appeared to dance in the sky, an event reported by thousands of people.  People whose clothes had been sodden found their clothes dry, and clean, immediately after the event, a phenomenon even experienced by residents of a nearby village who had not attended the gathering.  A pile of rosaries that had become entangled on the ground near where the children reported the Marian apparition had appeared earlier were picked up immediately after and were untangled.

There are of course skeptics concerning the event and while even Catholics are not obligated to believe that it occurred, it is unique due to being experienced on a very widespread basis and, further, to have included more than a visual apprehension that something was occurring and to be experienced by people nearby who were not part of the gathering and who had even been inattentive to it.  Portuguese poet Afonso Lopes Vieira reported, for example, "On that day of October 13, 1917, without remembering the predictions of the children, I was enchanted by a remarkable spectacle in the sky of a kind I had never seen before. I saw it from this veranda".  It was also unique in not being limited to merely a visual experience, but to also feature numerous and distinct physical expressions.  If it was a mass hallucination, as some have claimed, it was an odd one indeed being experienced by over 10,000 people and to include their sight, smell and their clothing.

As an aside, the location of this event, Fatima, is a town  named for Fatimah bint Muhammad, the youngest daughter of Muhammad, according to Shia Muslims.  She was the only daughter of Muhammad and Khadijah. She was, in her adult years, the oldest of Muhammed's children.

Khadijah was the only one of Muhammad's wives to which he was married monogamously.  He only took up polygamy after her death.  She was married three times and Muhammad was her last husband.  She is known to have been a Catholic, and its known that her uncle was a Gnostic Priest.  Based upon what little is known of her, her Catholic nature seems to have held sway in significant ways in the household.  It's claimed by Muslims that she was the first convert to Islam, but given what little is known about Muhammad (to include even his name), this is quite questionable and indeed the contemporary nature of Muhammad's religious mission is open to question as well.  It may in fact be the case, and indeed likely was, that their marriage was Catholic in form (which would not have required a Priest at the time) and she maintained her Faith throughout their marriage.  Indeed, there is not insignificant evidence that Muhammad picked up elements of it and Gnosticism through his marriage to her and he may in fact have really been a type of Gnostic at one time, and perhaps for the rest of his life.

Assuming, anyhow, that what we know if his family life is correct (which is open to some question) Fatima was his oldest child to survive childhood and the only child of that marriage to make it to adulthood.  Of interest, she married Ali, Muhammad's cousin, but that marriage, like that of her mother's, was monogamous during her lifetime.  She would be one of seven of Ali's wives, but all the others followed her death. This again raises strong questions on what her beliefs were, and its known that she had rejected many suitors prior to Ali.  Anyhow, there's reason to believe that she had either absorbed much of her mother's Catholic faith or that she may also have actually been Catholic, a statement which would horrify most Muslims but which explains much of what is actually known about her.

This region of Portugal was conquered by the Muslims, quite obviously, who named the town after the person.  It was in turn taken back during the Reconquista.  More than one believer who has studied the Marian Apparitions at Fatima have pondered the choice of location and wondered about it.  Muslims have a fairly strong appreciate of Mary and there's been those who wondered if the Apparitions occurrence in some ways relates to a different type of Reconquista

The Miracle of the Sun, October 13, 1917.

Yesterday we reported on the soggy First Battle of Passchendael, an event so wet that artillery fire proved ineffective and the New Zealand army accordingly had the worst day in its history.

I don't know how widespread the October rains were in 1917, but I do know that it had been wet in Portugal as well, as that's well recorded in regards to the Miracle of the Sun, the final 1917 event associated with the Marian apparitions at Fatima, Portugal, that year.

 

As noted here earlier, there had been an entire series of reports of Marian Apparitions in 1917, most of which occurred at Fatima but one report of which occurred in Russia.   This event is distinctly different from the earlier events as it was widely viewed by numerous people and came on the date that had been predicted by the three peasant children who had been reporting the Portuguese apparitions.

By this point, the Fatima apparitions had been receiving press reports and accordingly it had been reported that the peasant children had related that the vision of the Lady they had been seeing had promised a miracle so that "all may believe".  Large crowed accordingly gathered on the day of the predicted miracle.  The day was rainy but the clouds broke and the sun appeared to dance in the sky, an event reported by thousands of people.  People whose clothes had been sodden found their clothes dry, and clean, immediately after the event, a phenomenon even experienced by residents of a nearby village who had not attended the gathering.  A pile of rosaries that had become entangled on the ground near where the children reported the Marian apparition had appeared earlier were picked up immediately after and were untangled.

There are of course skeptics concerning the event and while even Catholics are not obligated to believe that it occurred, it is unique due to being experienced on a very widespread basis and, further, to have included more than a visual apprehension that something was occurring and to be experienced by people nearby who were not part of the gathering and who had even been inattentive to it.  Portuguese poet Afonso Lopes Vieira reported, for example, "On that day of October 13, 1917, without remembering the predictions of the children, I was enchanted by a remarkable spectacle in the sky of a kind I had never seen before. I saw it from this veranda".  It was also unique in not being limited to merely a visual experience, but to also feature numerous and distinct physical expressions.  If it was a mass hallucination, as some have claimed, it was an odd one indeed being experienced by over 10,000 people and to include their sight, smell and their clothing.

Seemingly a world away. . .

from the fighting in the First World War, but caught up in it none the less, today, July 31, a century ago was draft registration day for Hawaii.  For whatever reason, Hawaii"s registration date had followed the general registration date in the continental United States by a couple of weeks.

Hawaii was still a territory, of course, but it residents were U.S. citizens and therefore liable for conscription.  The Selective Service Boards had been working to prepare for conscription since June.  And as it was a territory, and therefore directly subject to Congress in a way that the states were not, the wartime prohibition on alcohol that Congress brought in as a war measure had come into the entire territory on June 6 of this year.

The war was already also impacting Hawaii in numerous ways, showing that World War One truly had a global reach.  Hawaii's Army militia had obtained National Guard Status in 1916.  Its Naval Militia had come into existence only in April but had been seeing service since September on the cruiser the USS St. Louis.  Some German vessels had been interned for months, well before the start of the war, where they'd taken refuge from Japanese patrols.  In April they were seized for U.S. use.  Even the war fever that lead to all sorts of outrageous rumors in the Continental US saw a Hawaiian expression, as rumors that anthrax in Hawaiian cattle herds were the result of action by German agents had already circulated.

Hawaii, of course, was different in 1917 from what it would be in 2017 in all sorts of ways.  It was already regarded as an island paradise, indeed a member of my family lived their at the time and her family, including one of my ancestors, visited on occasion from Canada, and they certainly regarded it that way. But it was very difficult to get to compared to post World War Two when easy commercial air travel would come in.  In many ways, therefore, for at least European Americans it was more of a paradise then than now, being much less populated and much more, well, authentic in areas like Oahu.  Its native and immigrant populations were also more evident in different ways, as this poster demonstrates. The poster has more Portuguese text than English, the Portuguese being a significant migrant population to the Hawaiian islands.  Their influence is still felt today, but it'd be unlikely to find a English/Portuguese official poster such as this now.

July 13, 1917. Columbus in the News Again, Conscription, and something going on at Fatima

I quit doing daily newspaper updates some time ago, but given the interesting news here, and as I've done on occasion, I'm posting a "100 Years Ago Today" type entry here regarding July 13, 1917.

As noted yesterday, in one of the largest criminal acts of its type, industrial vigilantism of a type that we no longer see (thankfully) broke out in Bisbee Arizona.  Mining interest operated to illegally arrest and "deport" IWW members from Bisbee to New Mexico, entraining the victims and shipping them off to hapless southern New Mexico.

The IWW, to be sure, was one of the most radical unions going, in an era in which unions were pretty radical.  This was an era in which, for a combination of reasons, radical Socialism, of the type stirring up all sorts of foment in collapsing Russia, was on the rise everywhere and indeed had its presence in American unions.  The IWW, with its concept of "one big union", was one of the most radical of the bunch.

From the June 30, 1917 issue of Solidarity, the Industrial Workers of the World magazine.  One Big Union.

Frankly, in my view, the IWW was really darned goofy, and the concept of "one big union" totally unworkable.  Its no surprise that the IWW, which still exists, never succeeded it reaching its goals.  But the teens and the twenties were its era in the sun, and in Bisbee Arizona it had its moment.

Bibee in 1916.

The reason was simple enough.  Conditions at the Phelps Dodge mine there were bad and the union that had the membership there, the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers (IUMMSW) wasn't doing much.  Some 800 or so workers turned to the IWW.

And the mining interest reacted, gathering up the IWW members and shipping them out of Bisbee.

Where they ended up in poor Columbus.

A humanitarian disaster was in the works, the US had to intervene and did.  Ultimately, while the Federal government determined the act was criminal, what with its scale, and what with all that was going on, nobody was prosecuted for this shocking act.

Amongst the shocks the nations was receiving, we'd note, it became clearer and clearer every day that the draft was going to be big. Really big.  Early registration had somewhat mixed results but was mostly successful.  The Guard was going into  official Federal service, conscripted actually due to an odd view of the US Attorney General that Federalized Guardsmen could not serve overseas, in August.  The big draw of average male citizens was hitting the news.  Even with the big numbers being claimed in the Press at the time, the actual numbers would be much larger.

There's be a lot more than two.  July 12, 1917 cover of Leslie's

Regarding fighting, the second of a series of mysterious events, which had not yet hit the international news but which would start to, occurred on this day.  Three Portuguese peasant children claimed to receive a visit from a mysterious otherworldly lady who then, they claimed, gave them a momentary but vivid glimpse of Hell.  Following that, she gave them a message, which included, but was not limited to, requests for penitential prayers and a prediction that the Great War would soon end, but if penance was not performed, Russia would fall into grave error, spread those errors around the world, nations would be destroyed, and a second war greater than the first would occur in the reign of a Pope who was named but who was not at that time the sitting Pope.  While nobody, including Catholics, are obligated to believe in a private revelation, this series of events, which would end, as the visitor claimed, in October 1917 with a final spectacular event, is hard to discount given that the contents of the messages proved to be true.  And so went the second, July 13, 1917 apparition of the Virgin Mary at Fatima.

Roads to the Great War: The Great War's Most Memorable Religious Event The Apparitions at Fatima

Roads to the Great War: The Great War's Most Memorable Religious Event The...: Click on Image to Expand Lucia dos Santos, Cousins Francisco and Jacinta Martos The three intense-looking children in the photo ...

Portugal enters into participation in World War One: August 7, 1916

Portugal entered World War One on the Allied side on this day in 1916.

We don't think much of Portugal's role in the war, but one of them would be take part in the combat in Africa, which we also tend not.  A good thread (I think there are actually several) on this topic is found on the excellent Society of the Military Horse website.

 Portuguese soldiers disembark in France,December 1916.

Twelve Thousand Portuguese soldiers died in World War One, including African soldiers serving Portugal in  Africa.   That's a small number compared to most other combatants, but it was a significant number in the context of their role in the war.  The war, additionally, caused food shortages at home resulting in 82,000 deaths.  The Spanish flu killed an additional 138,000, but that likely would have occurred anyhow.

 Portuguese solders leaving for Angola.

This date is a bit confusing, as technically Portugal had been at war since March 9, when Germany declared war on it due to it having confiscated German ships in Portuguese ports upon request of the British.  Portugal had a long running friendly connection with the United Kingdom dating back to the Napoleonic Wars.  This understandingly provoked a German reaction.  Portugal replied with its own declaration of war and began to organize its forces for Western Front action.  It did not immediately send troops however.  Still, a war aim of its own, the return of Kionga Mozambique from German occupation, occupied since 1894, was incorporated in the Allied war aims by June 9, 1916.

 Portuguese soldiers loading a mortar.  In combat the Portuguese in Europe resembled the British in appearance from whom they had secured some equipment.

On this date the Portuguese accepted a British invitation to actually participate in the war, which may seem odd, but it required the act of the Portuguese parliament.  It's participation in the war in Europe was always limited and in some ways its participation in Africa was more significant.  Perhaps the most famous event associated with Portugal and World War One did not involve combat at all, however, and was the apparitions at Fatima, which commenced with the visitation of an angel in the Spring of 1916, and which continued in May 1917 with the visitation of Mary. The final apparitional phenomenon was  the October 1917 Miracle of the Sun which was witnessed by a large number of people.

Friday, April 23, 1909. Lethal politics in Kentucky.

William S. Taylor

Governor of Kentucky, Augustus E. Willson, pardoned former Governor of Kentucky, William S. Taylor for assessor to the murder, which he denied, of William Goebel, who had been declared to be the lawful winner of the 1899 gubernatorial election.

Augustus E. Willson.

Very MAGAesque.

Taylor had taken up residence in another state, where he practiced law, and he rarely returned to Kentucky.

The horrors taking place in Turkey were noted.

The Acting Secretary of State to Ambassador Reid.

Department of State,

Washington, April 23, 1909.

Referring to department’s telegram of the 18th, Mr. Wilson asks if a fleet adequate for the protection of foreign life has been sent to the disturbed regions in Turkey, and if American citizens are in jeopardy whether we can rely upon the doing of all that is feasible for their protection. Says, in view of the humanitarian concern felt by the President and because of the distressed interest of naturalized Armenians in the United States, the department would be glad to learn if possible what is being done under the Berlin act to check the massacre of Armenians in Turkey. Quotes telegram of this date from Turkey.

Gimbels signed a 105-year lease for property at New York Herald Square.  This provided for $60,000,000 in rent until 2014.

The 1909 Benavente earthquake in the Santarém District of the Central Region, Portugal. Sixty people were killed in the incident.

Child labor was photographed in Lewiston, Maine.

It shows, I guess, why quite a few World War One veterans, in reality, didn't think the war was all that bad.  Daily life was already really rough.

Last prior edition:

Sunday, April 18, 1909. St. Joan d'Arc beatified.

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