Monday, September 28, 1874. The Battle of Palo Duro Canyon.

Outnumbered roops under Ranald Mackenzie attacked Cheyenne, Kiowa and Comanche at Palo Duro Canyon bringing about a legendary and significant Army victory in the Red River War and essentially bringing it to a close.

Casualties on both sides were overall light, but the loss of horses and supplies was devastating to the Native side.

Mackenzie is forgotten in the popular memory, although he certainly is not amongst students of the post Civil War Indian Wars.  He was an extremely effective but died a bad death at age 48, which may be part of the reason that he's forgotten.

Last edition:

Friday, September 25, 1874. The Act of September 1874.

Labels: 1820s, 1824, 1870s, 1874, Benito Juárez, Catholic, Christianity, Cristero War, law, Manuel Ávila Camacho, Mexican Revolution, Mexico, Porfirio Díaz, religion, Revolution of Ayutla, Second Mexican Empire

Friday, September 25, 1964. Gomer Pyle, USMC.

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. premiered on CBS.

Somehow, Pvt. Pyle managed never to be deployed to Vietnam, and seemingly, with the exception of one single episode I can think of, remain in the Pre Vietnam War era entirely.

President Johnson and Mexican President López Mateos shook hands on the International Bridge at El Paso.  Later that day President Johnson flew to Oklahoma for the dedication of the new Eufaula Dam and spoke about the Vietnam War, stating: "There are those that say you ought to go north and drop bombs, to try to wipe out the supply lines, and they think that would escalate the war. We don't want our American boys to do the fighting for Asian boys."

FRELIMO (Frente de Libertação de Moçambique) launched the Mozambican War of Independence.

Last edition:

Blog Mirror: Kodak Instamatic Cameras, 1964

Labels: 1960s, 1964, Blog Mirror, Cameras, technology

Wednesday, September 9, 1874. The start of the Battle of Upper Washita.

The Battle of the Upper Washita River commenced on this day in 1874 when a supply train lead by Cpt. Wyllys Lyman was attacked by Comanches and Kiowas.   The battle would last for five days during which a scout was dispatched for relief.

Pvt. Thomas Kelly, Company H, 5th U.S. Infantry, was awarded the Medal of Honor.  His citation reads:

Gallantry in action.

Kelly was, predictably, Irish, having been born in May in 1836.  He must have been a career soldiers as he was almost 40 years old, and still a private, not unusual for the time.  He lived until 1919 and died at age 83, at Leavenworth, Kansas, which was likely his last duty station.  He married Rose Kelly at some point.

One of the Wild Geese.

Last edition.

Sunday, August 30, 1874. The return to The Girl I Left Behind me and the Battle of Red River.

Labels: 1870s, 1874, Battle of Red River, Camp Custer Michigan, cavalry, Ft. Abraham Lincoln, Infantry, Red River War, Texas, The Black Hills Expedition

Sunday, August 30, 1874. The return to The Girl I Left Behind me and the Battle of Red River.

The Black Hills Expedition returned to Ft. Abraham Lincoln after covering nearly 1,200 miles over lasting sixty days.

The Sixth Cavalry and Fifth Infantry under the command of Colonel Nelson A. Miles attacked a large group of Southern Cheyenne near the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River in Texas in what became the day long Battle of Red River..  Though armed with Gatling guns and a 10-pounder Parrott rifle, the Cheyenne were able to hold them the Army long enough to escape up Tule Canyon into the Staked Plains.

Last edition:

Wednesday, August 26, 1874. Lynching black suspects and violating the Second Amendment.

Labels: 1870s, 1874, Crime, Ethnicities, law, National Rifle Association, Racism, Tennessee, Weapons

Tuesday, August 3, 1824. A League of Land.

Mexico granted to Stephen F. Austin's Old 300 colonists Isaac Pennington and David Randon a league of land in the Fort Bend area.

Last edition:

Friday, May 7, 1824. Coahuila y Tejas

Labels: 1820s, 1824, Classical Music, Mexico, Music, Texas

Wednesday, July 24, 1974. United States v. Nixon.

The United States Supreme Court decided in United States v Nixon that the President could not withhold evidence based on the defense of national security, thereby ordering Nixon to turn over his tape recordings.

I wonder what the current court would do?

The Greek military junta resigned in favor of former Premier Konstantinos Karamanlis who immediately granted amnesty to political prisoners.

The Huntsville Prison siege began in Huntsville, Texas.

Last edition:

Sunday, July 21, 1974. Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Israeli no, Turkish misidentification.

Labels: 1970s, 1974, Arabs, boats and ships, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Greek Army, Israel, Petroleum, Turkey, Turkish Air Force, Turkish Army, Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Turkish Navy

Sunday, July 12, 1874. The Lost Valley Fight.

On this day in 1874, a mixed company of Texas Rangers and U.S. troops numbering 35, and led by Maj. John B. Jones encountered as many as 100 Kiowas led by Lone Wolf and Mamanti at Lost Valley, 12 miles north of Jacksboro, Texas.  Two Rangers were killed in the exchange which is known as the Lost Valley Fight.

German novelist Fritz Reuter, compared to Dickens, but in the Plattdeutsch German dialect, died at age 63.  His health had been impaired due to imprisonment in his youth for being involved in the mid century German revolutionary movements.

Last edition:

Wednesday, July 8, 1874. March West.

Labels: 1870s, 1874, Canada, Manitoba, March West, North West Mounted Police, police, The Frontier West

Saturday, June 27, 1874. The Second Battle of Adobe Walls

On this day, 28 buffalo hunters at the abandoned trading post of Adobe Walls, Texas, fought the Comanche, who numbered around 700.  Fortified behind the post's walls, and armed with powerful large caliber buffalo hunting rifles, they successfully defended their party, with buffalo hunter Billy Dixon killing an Indian combatant at the amazing range of 1,538 yards.   Four of the hunters were killed in the engagement, and approximately 30 Comanche.

Last prior edition:

Sunday, June 14, 1874. Calling for an Indian War.

Labels: 1870s, 1874, Indian Wars, North Dakota, The Press, War

Thursday, June 25, 1874. Leaving for Adobe Walls.

A party of buffalo hunters left Dodge City, bound for the abandoned trading post of Adobe Walls in Texas.

Rose O'Neill, creator of Kewpies, was born.

Last prior edition:

Saturday, June 20, 1874. Life Savers

Labels: 1870s, 1874, Department of Homeland Safety, Department of the Treasury, Heroes, Personalities, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Life Saving Service

Saturday, June 17, 1899. It's flooding down in Texas*

 

Terrible floods occured in Texas after 8.9 inches of rain fell over 66,000 square miles. The Brazos flooded, and 284 people lost their lives.

Footnotes:

The title today is taken from Texan Stevie Ray Vaughn's blues song of that name.

Last prior edition:

Tuesday, June 13, 1899. The Battle of Zapote River

Labels: 1890s, 1899, 1920s, 1922, Army, Douglas MacArthur, Ft. D.A. Russell, Personalities, Philippine Insurrection, Philippines, U.S. Navy, Wyoming

Wednesday, June 10, 1914. The Zaian War and orphans in Texas.

French forces number 14,000 men attacked the Moroccan stronghold of Mouha ou Hammou Zayani at Khenifra, Morocco.

Last prior edition:

Sunday, June 7, 1914. Red Week

Labels: 1910s, 1914, Christianity, Italy, Ohio, Ohio (Canton), panoramic, Protestant, Red Week, religion, Women

Wednesday, May 10, 1899. Song and Dance.

 Fred Astaire was born in Omaha, Nebraska as Frederick Austerlitz

Texas State University was founded.

Last prior edition:

Sunday, May 7, 1899. Aguinaldo moves

1890s, 1899, Philippine Insurrection, Philippines

Friday, May 7, 1824. Coahuila y Tejas

Today In Wyoming's History: May 7: 1824   The Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas was created.  Attribution:  On This Day. 

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony premiered.

Last prior edition:

Thursday, April 8, 1824. Empresario Grant to Don Martin de Leon.

1820s, 1824, Louisiana, Mexico, Texas, Texas Revolution

Thursday, April 8, 1824. Empresario Grant to Don Martin de Leon.

Don Martin de Leon to the provincial delegation of San Fernando de Bexar for an Empresario Grant in Texas to settle forty-one Mexican families "of good moral character" and to found the town of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Jesús Victoria.  The Mexican settlement was unusual, as most of the period grants were to colonizing Americans.

De Leon was supportive of the Texas revolution against Mexico, but disdainful of the American colonists in Texas.  As a major person of Spanish heritage, his life became difficult after Texas independence, and he ended up taking his family and livestock to Louisiana.

Last prior edition:

Wednesday, April 7, 1824. Premier of Missa Solemnis

1820s, 1824, Beetoven, Classical Music, Music, St. Petersburg Russia

OROZCO by SK GUNS and Pascual Orozco himself.

Wow, that's a wild commemorative.

Pascual Orozco was a Mexican Revolutionary who originally supported Madero before falling out with him.  He was of immediate Basque descent, something we tend not to think about in regard to Mexico, which is in fact more ethnically diverse than we commonly imagine.  He was an early recruit to Madero's 1910 revolution, and was a natural military leader, and could be rather morbid.  After his January 2, 1911, victory at Cañón del Mal Paso he ordered the dead Federal soldiers stripped and sent the uniforms to Presidente Díaz with a note that read, "Ahí te van las hojas, mándame más tamales" ("Here are the wrappers, send me more tamales.").

On May 10, 1911 Orozco and Pancho Villa seized Ciudad Juárez, against Madero's orders, a victory which caused Díaz to briefly resign the presidency.  Madero would naively choose to negotiate with the regime, which resulted in The Treaty of Ciudad Juárez allowing for the resignations of Díaz and his vice president, allowing them to go into exile, establishing an Interim Presidency under Francisco León de la Barra, and keeping the Federal Army intact.

Like Zapata, he went into rebellion against the Madero government, which he felt had betrayed the revolution.  He openly declared revolt on March 3, 1912, financing it with his own money and confiscated livestock sold in Texas.  His forces were known as the Orozquistas and the Colorados (the Reds). They defeated Federal troops in Chihuahua under José González Salas. Madero in turn sent Victoriano Huerta against him, who in turn were more successful.  A wounded Orozco fled to the US. After Madero was assassinated and Huerta installed, Orozco promised to support him if reforms were made, and he was installed as the Supreme Commander of the Mexican Federal forces.  As such he defeated the Constitutionalist at Ciudad Camargo, Mapula, Santa Rosalía, Zacatecas, and Torreón, causing his former revolutionary confederates to regard him, not without justification, as a traitor.

He refused to recognize the government of Carvajal after Huerta's fall and was driven into exile again.  He traveled in the US in opposition to Carranza along with Huerta.  In 1915, he was arrested in the US, but escaped.  An unclear incident at the Dick Love ranch in Texas led to claims that he and other like-minded combatants had stolen horses from the ranch, which in turn resulted in a small party of the 13th Cavalry, Texas Rangers, and local deputies pursing the supposed horse thieve with Orozco being killed once the party was holed up.  What exactly occured is not clear.

His body interred in the Masonic Holding Vault at the Concordia Cemetery in El Paso by his wife, dressed in the uniform of a Mexican general, at a service attended by a very larger gathering of admirers.  In 1925 his remains were retuned to Chihuahua.

Why the commemorative?  I have no idea.  He is not an obscure figure in the Mexican Revolution, but not a well known one like Villa or Zapata.  I can't see where he's associated with the M1911 either, a weapon that was brand new at the time the Revolution broken out.  The .38 Super, which is apparently popular in Mexico, wasn't intruduced by Colt until 1929.

Friday, January 18, 1924. Corn husking bee, Transiting Mexican Federals, Convalescing Commie.

 

A corn husking bee, January 18, 1924.

The news recalled 1916.

Mexican troops looked to be about to get US transit.

Calvin Coolidge gave a press conference.  He addressed that topic, and others.  On the transit, he stated:

An inquiry also about the passage of Mexican troops across American territory. It is my information that New Mexico and I think Arizona have given consent of their Governments to the passage of Mexican troops, but that the Acting Governor of Texas thought that such passage through Texas territory might incur some danger. Of course, the opinion of the Governor there would be respected, and unless the local authorities, I mean by that the Government, state authorities, want to give their consent, our Government would notify the Government of Mexico that it seemed expedient to have troops pass through Mexico. Whether that would be refused, or changed at all, when the Governor gets home, I don’t know. It may be that the Acting Governor simply didn’t want to take the responsibility of making an affirmative decision, and is awaiting the return of the Governor.

Interesting how it was viewed as a state first matter.

One of the other topics addressed was the Teapot Dome Scandal.

While Trotsky was convalescing on the Black Sea, getting a little respite from being an agent of murderous armed agency, Stalin denounced him in a blistering speech.

1924  Douglas bank closes in failure, part of a waive of bank failures.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society. 

Friday, November 22, 1963. The assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Today In Wyoming's History: November 22: 1963  President John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, TX.

President Kennedy was a very popular President in a very difficult time.  A lot of my comments about his presidency here have not been terribly charitable, but he was a hero to many, and some of his calls here have unfairly not been noted.  For instance, he exercised restraint during the Cuban Missile Crisis, which almost resulted in a Third World War, and he likewise kept the separation of Berlin from escalating into the same, even though his comments caused that crisis to come about.

In spite of repeated speculation about it, it's clear that the assassination was carried out as a lone, bizarre act by Lee Harvey Oswald.  Indeed, the lone actor aspect of that has fueled the conspiracy theories surrounding the event, as people basically don't want to accept that a lone actor can have such a massive and unforeseen impact.

I was alive at the time, but of course I don't remember this as I was only a few months old.  In my father's effects, I'd note, was a Kennedy Mass Card that he'd kept. No doubt, Masses were said around the country for the first Catholic President.

Often unnoticed about this event, Oswald probably had made an earlier attempt on the life of former Army Gen. Edwin Walker, who ironically was a radical right wing opponent of Kennedy's.  That attempt had occured in April. And Oswald killed Texas law enforcement officer J. D. Tippit shortly after killing Kennedy.  Oswald's initial arrest was for his murder of Tippit.

It's fair to speculate on how different history might have been had Kennedy lived.  Kennedy's actions had taken the US up to the brink of war with the Soviet Union twice, but in both instances, when the crisis occured, he steered the country out of it, and indeed his thinking was often better in those instances than his advisers. Under Kennedy the US had become increasingly involved in the Vietnam War, but there's at least some reason to believe that he was approaching the point of backing off in Vietnam, and it seems unlikely that the US would have engaged in the war full scale as it did under Lyndon Johnson.  If that's correct, the corrosive effect the war had on US society, felt until this day, might have been avoided.

All of which is not to engage in the hagiography often engaged in considering Kennedy.  To the general public, the James Dean Effect seems to apply to Kennedy, as he died relatively young.  Catholics nearly worshiped him as one of their own.  In reality, Kennedy had a really icky personal life and was hardly a living saint.  His hawkishness in a time of real global strife, moreover, produced at least one tragic result, and nearly caused others.

The 2023 "Off Year" Election.

October 2, 2023.

Some states, albeit not Wyoming, are having elections this November.  

And some of them will have interesting topics on their ballots.  We start with this one, a Texas right to farm act, that will be on the ballot in Texas.

Texans to Vote on Right to Farm Constitutional Amendment November 7

November 8, 2023

Following the trend of voting to make Americans even more intoxicated and dim than they already are, Ohio voted to legalize recreational marijuana.  It also voted in favor of opening up abortion, unfortunately.

Houston is going to have a mayoral runoff.

cont:

Democrats gained control of both houses of the Virginia legislature.

Republicans only barely held the House of Delegates before this, but this can legitimately be regarded as another example of the Trump GOP losing power in an election.

Democrats took the Governor's race in Kentucky.

None of this may be dramatic, but the GOP has a demographic problem, and Trump isn't helping it.  Therefore, ironically, there's a fairly good chance that he'll be elected as the next President, but the House and the Senate will go Democratic.

cont:

Democrats won big in New Jersey.

For some reason, apparently it was thought they would not, which is odd.

November 9, 2023

Regarding ballot initiatives in Maine; Maine passed a resolution prohibiting election funding by foreign governments, including entities with partial foreign government ownership or control.

The Pine Tree Power Company initiative decisively failed.

A right to repair initiative requiring vehicle manufacturers to provide access to vehicle on board diagnostic systems to owners and repair facilities passed.

An attempt to allow out of states to gather initiative signatures failed.

Texas, not too surprisingly, had a bunch of initiatives on its ballot.  Some of interest here:

A right to farm, ranch, harvest timber, practice horticulture and engage in wildlife management was added to the State Constitution.  The vote was overwhelmingly in favor.

Voters authorized an ad valorem tax exemption on medical and biomedical equipment.

An effort to raise judicial retirement age from 75 to 79 (what the heck?) failed, thank goodness.

A resolution to prohibit a tax on net wealth passed.

Tuesday, June 15, 1943. Riots in Beaumont.

Riots occurred in Beaumont, Texas, a city just to the north of Port Arthur, when white men, half employed by the Pennsylvania Shipyards, attacked homes, businesses and automobiles of African Americans.

Acting Governor A. M. Aiken had to call out the wartime Texas State Guard and deploy Texas Rangers, while also declaring martial law.

It was the first flight of the jet engined German bomber, the Arado Ar 234.

The twin engined jet bomber was the first of its kind in the world, and would enter service in the fall of 1944, too late to be of consequence.

18,000

That's the number of cattle killed in the explosion in Texas.  18,000 dairy cattle.

That's obscene.

I own cattle, and beef cattle at that. But this shows what's really gone wrong with the United States and the Western World.  Everything has to be some sort of factory.