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#OTD #Onthisday 28 May, 1754, Major Washington of the Virginia Regiment fought his first battle at Jumonville Glen, which ended in the murder of Ensign Jumonville. In Voltaire's words, it was a "torch lighted in the forests of America" that "set all Europe in conflagration.”
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At 10 p.m. on the 27th, Washington set out from his camp in the Great Meadows, Pennsylvania with a party of about 40 Virginia militiamen. They had no idea where they were headed for, and what catastrophic liability their would come to bear.
(Wa. to Dinwiddie, 29 May 1755)
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(Wa. to Dinwiddie, 29 May 1755)
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The only intelligence available to them was the unexpected Express from the Half-King, received by Washington two hours ago-that "he was coming to join us, they had seen along the road the tracks of two [Frenchmen] which went down into a gloomy hollow, and that he imagined
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#OTD #Onthisday 27 May, 1754, Christopher Gist and the Half-King confirmed that the French were advancing from the Crossing of Youghiogany.
Washington, overflowing with confidence that he had prepared "a charming field for encounter," set off for the French camp.
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Washington, overflowing with confidence that he had prepared "a charming field for encounter," set off for the French camp.
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Yesterday, "a small light partys of Horse (wagon Horses)to reconnoitre the Enemy, and discover [the enemy's] strength and motion" had returned "without seeing anything."
But early in the morning of the 27th, Gist returned to the camp with a frightening intelligence.
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But early in the morning of the 27th, Gist returned to the camp with a frightening intelligence.
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On the 26th, his plantation was nearly sacked by fifty Frenchmen under La Force until the two Indians scouts "persuaded them from their design." The French were said to have asked Gist, "what was become of the Half-King?"
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#OTD #Onthisday 26 May, 1754, Lieutenant-Colonel George Washington receives a letter from Colonel William Fairfax sent by Colonel Joshua Fry, that Governor Robert Dinwiddie has arrived at Winchester, and was "desirous to see the Half King," a Seneca leader.
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Three days ago, Tanaghrisson or the Half-King, whose childhood spent in French captivity sustained his aversion to the French expansion into the Forks of the Ohio, had offered to guide Washington and his 'English brethren' to the French encampment in the Great Meadows.
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He personally wrote to the 22-year-old officer:
"...I exhort you, therefore, my English brethren, to be on your guard against them, for they intend to strike the first English, whom they see. They have been on the march for two days. I know not their number.
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"...I exhort you, therefore, my English brethren, to be on your guard against them, for they intend to strike the first English, whom they see. They have been on the march for two days. I know not their number.
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THREAD Re. today's expected flood of "Dear #Tito" tweets:
#OTD 25 May, is birth anniversary of former #Yugoslavia leader Josip Broz Tito. Many call it his #birthday although he has been dead for 43 yrs. I do not wish to rain on their parade, merely offer my own and my family's /2
#OTD 25 May, is birth anniversary of former #Yugoslavia leader Josip Broz Tito. Many call it his #birthday although he has been dead for 43 yrs. I do not wish to rain on their parade, merely offer my own and my family's /2
THREAD to clarify, question in a PM: we were a normal & pretty ordinary non-Communist family. Not (openly) anti-Communist but not collaborating with the regime in any political capacitiy. Both my grandfathers were opposed to the idea of #Yugoslavia - they realized it may have /2
2/ been as a noble idea but was compromised by Greater #Serbian intentions to rule without allowing for any self-expression or federalism. My paternal grandfather (pic 4), whom I barely remember, he died when I was 6, used to say “both Yugoslavias [Kingdom proclaimed in 1918 & /3
General Ambrose Burnside was born #OTD in 1824. A one time commander of the Army of the Potomac, Burnside was a genial man but a subpar commander. He entered politics after the #CivilWar, becoming Governor of Rhode Island and a U.S. Senator from that state.🧵
As a young officer, Burnside had been engaged to a woman named Charlotte “Lottie” Moon, but she left him at the altar by proclaiming “No siree Bob!” to the minister’s question of whether she took Burnside to be her husband. She later became a confederate spy.
Burnside left two more lasting legacies. First, he wore such unusual whiskers that they began to be commonly called “burnsides”, which later evolved into the word “sideburns”. The second was his election as the first president of the National Rifle Association.
The Battle of Front Royal, VA, was fought #OTD in 1862. The engagement was part of Thomas Jackson’s campaign in the Shenandoah Valley, capturing supplies and tying up @USArmy units from reinforcing General George McClellan’s offensive against Richmond. #CivilWar🧵
General Nathaniel Banks commanded 9,000 men in the Valley, and concentrated near Strasbourg. A smaller force of about 1,000 under Colonel John Kenly held Front Royal, which Jackson approached on the morning of May 23rd.
Jackson had more than three times as many men as Kenly, and used the rest of his force well to cut off mountain passes and prevent U.S. reinforcements, including Banks’ main body, from reaching Front Royal.
🇫🇷🇬🇧#OTD in 1944, SOE F Section wireless operator Muriel Tamara Byck died whilst on active service in occupied France. She had been parachuted in with her team near Issoudon on 9 April 44. 1/4
Muriel was born in London on 4 June 1918 to French Jewish parents - she went on to live in Germany and France before moving back to London with her parents in 1930. Her profile saw her being recruited by the SOE after she had joined the WAAF. 2/4
After being parachuted in, she transmitted from the Sologne region south of Orleans and it was whilst there that she fell ill. Her leader Philippe de Vomécourt took her to see a doctor who diagnosed meningitis. De Vomécourt had no choice than to take her to hospital. 3/4
The Battle of North Anna began #OTD in 1864. Part of General @USGrantNPS's Overland Campaign, the battle was actually a series of engagements between parts of The Army of the Potomac and Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. #CivilWar🧵
After Grant was unable to defeat Lee at the two-week long Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, he met with his commanders and determined to move the army around Lee's flank to the south, hoping again to draw him into a full-scale battle on open ground.
Lee, with interior lines of movement, was able to shift his army southward and arrive at the North Anna River before Grant. Once across, Lee didn't have his men entrench, not knowing if Grant intended to confront them there. This gave Grant's two lead Corps an opportunity.
#OTD in 1455 the War of the Roses began with the First Battle of St Albans. King Henry VI and his army held the town centre, and the Duke of York's army attacked from the east. Fierce fight took place on Sopwell Lane, the Yorkists attack here led by the Earl of Salisbury. 1/7
The lane was stoutly defended by Lord Clifford, with a large wooden bar thrown across it. Even now it's still quite a narrow lane with little room for manoeuvre. 2/7
Meanwhile York himself attempted to force his way up Shropshire Lane, now Victoria Street. Again the narrow lane and another bar blocked his attack. 3/7
#OTD in 1916 José Morin and Victoriano Ponce disappeared while in the custody of Ranger Capt. JJ Sanders, pictured here in a photo from @txrangermuseum. The men were suspected of attacks against US citizens but neither had been tried or formally accused. /1
Newspapers reported the men were shot while trying to escape Ranger custody. While technically possible, ‘shot while escaping’ was a common Ranger excuse for executing prisoners, especially ethnic Mexicans, in cold blood. /2
Contemporaries recognized this excuse to murder captives, as this editorial in The Daily Bulletin of Brownwood, TX shows. But the author, presumably a white person, was more concerned with the (white) Rangers’ honor than the illegal murder of 2 Mexicans. /3
THREAD
#OTD Whitman Mayo joined the ancestors (Nov 15, 1930- May 22, 2001). Known his character “Grady Wilson” on the 1970s TV show Sanford & Son. A Korean War vet, he joined the New Lafayette Theater repertory company in NYC, he later taught drama at Clark-Atlanta U.
#History
#OTD Whitman Mayo joined the ancestors (Nov 15, 1930- May 22, 2001). Known his character “Grady Wilson” on the 1970s TV show Sanford & Son. A Korean War vet, he joined the New Lafayette Theater repertory company in NYC, he later taught drama at Clark-Atlanta U.
#History
Representative Preston Brooks beat Senator Charles Sumner with a cane on the floor of the US Senate #OTD in 1856. The violent attack is considered a key turning point in the breakdown of discussion between abolitionists and pro-slavery groups in the years before the #CivilWar.🧵
Two days earlier, Sumner had given a lengthy speech critical of slaveholders and of the politicians responsible for the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, including Brooks' cousin, Senator Andrew Butler.
Brooks was enraged at the insult to his family. After consulting with two colleagues, Reps. Laurence Keitt and Henry Edmundson, Brooks determined that Sumner was not worthy of challenging to an honorable duel, and instead determined to humiliate him by beating him publicly.
THREAD
#OTD Claude McKay joined the ancestors (Sept 15, 1889 – May 22, 1948). Jamaican writer, poet & central figure in the Harlem Renaissance. In 1919 McKay wrote "If We Must Die", one of his best known works.
#History
blackpast.org/african-americ…
#OTD Claude McKay joined the ancestors (Sept 15, 1889 – May 22, 1948). Jamaican writer, poet & central figure in the Harlem Renaissance. In 1919 McKay wrote "If We Must Die", one of his best known works.
#History
blackpast.org/african-americ…
THREAD
#OTD May 22, 1877: African American intellectual, Pan Africanist Alexander Crummell delivered an an address before the American Geographical Society delivered in Chickering Hall in NYC. Crummell demonstrated his appeal to one such audience.
#History
blackpast.org/african-americ…
#OTD May 22, 1877: African American intellectual, Pan Africanist Alexander Crummell delivered an an address before the American Geographical Society delivered in Chickering Hall in NYC. Crummell demonstrated his appeal to one such audience.
#History
blackpast.org/african-americ…
THREAD
#OTD Langston Hughes joined the ancestors (Feb 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967). Poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, early innovator of the literary art form called jazz poetry, He is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance.
#History
blackpast.org/african-americ…
#OTD Langston Hughes joined the ancestors (Feb 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967). Poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, early innovator of the literary art form called jazz poetry, He is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance.
#History
blackpast.org/african-americ…
Albert Gallatin Jenkins died #OTD in 1864. Born in 1830 to wealthy parents on a plantation in Cabell County, near what is now Huntington, WV, Jenkins attended @marshallu and graduated from @wjcollege in 1848 before completing a law degree at @Harvard_Law in 1850.🧵
He opened a law practice in Charleston, WV, and was elected as a Democrat to the US House of Representatives in 1856, and again in 1858. Upon his father's death, he inherited his plantation, Green Bottom, in 1859.
At the outbreak of the #CivilWar, despite coming from the part of Virginia that separated and remained loyal to the United States, Jenkins elected to resign from Congress and raise troops for the confederate army. He became commander of the 8th Virginia Cavalry.
THREAD
#OTD Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – Mar 9, 1997). AKA Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls. Rapper, songwriter. Known for his laidback lyrical delivery. Considered one of the greatest rappers of all time.
#History #MusicIsLife
blackpast.org/african-americ…
#OTD Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – Mar 9, 1997). AKA Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls. Rapper, songwriter. Known for his laidback lyrical delivery. Considered one of the greatest rappers of all time.
#History #MusicIsLife
blackpast.org/african-americ…
The town of @lawrenceks was sacked #OTD in 1856 by pro-slavery forces led by the local sheriff, the US Marshal, and former US Senator David Rice Atchison. #CivilWar🧵
The town had been founded two years earlier by abolitionists from Massachusetts, backed by funding from the New England Emigrant Aid Company and from Amos Adams Lawrence, a wealthy philanthropist and @Harvard graduate after whom the town was named.
It quickly became the center of the battle over allowing slavery in the Territory, and the "Bleeding Kansas" violence that would ensue. "Border ruffians", led by Atchison, had cast thousands of illegal votes the year before, electing a pro-slavery territorial government.
THREAD
#OTD May 21, 1961: Rev Dr MLK Jr spoke at 1st Baptist Church in Montgomery, AL. A white mob gathered outside & held him & the Freedom Riders under siege inside the church until federal marshals & Alabama Nat’l Guard could escort them out.
#History
calendar.eji.org/racial-injusti…
#OTD May 21, 1961: Rev Dr MLK Jr spoke at 1st Baptist Church in Montgomery, AL. A white mob gathered outside & held him & the Freedom Riders under siege inside the church until federal marshals & Alabama Nat’l Guard could escort them out.
#History
calendar.eji.org/racial-injusti…
General William H. French died #OTD in 1881, at the age of 66. A member of the West Point Class of 1837, he had been commissioned as an artillery officer, and served in the Second Seminole War and the Mexican-American War as aide to General (later President) Franklin Pierce.🧵
French served mostly on the frontier, and at the outbreak of the #CivilWar was serving as a Captain in the 1st US Artillery at Fort Duncan, Texas. Rather than surrender his command to the local confederates, he marched them to the coast and sailed to Key West.
Promoted first to Major, and then quickly to Brigadier General, by September, 1861, French commanded a brigade in the Army of the Potomac. He led it with distinction during the Peninsula Campaign, and was promoted to command a division during the Northern Virginia Campaign.
A @USArmy force under Colonel James Henry Carleton entered Tucson in the Territory of Arizona #OTD in 1862, ending a brief occupation by confederate forces without firing a shot. #CivilWar🧵
Originally part of the Territory of New Mexico, cities in the south of the territory had attempted to separate as a territory with legal slavery in the 1850’s but their petition was denied. After the Civil War began, the confederacy recognized the area as the Arizona Territory.
A small number of confederate troops arrived and occupied Tucson in March, 1862, ordered there by Henry Hopkins Sibley. They fought a pair of engagements with Apaches in the area, but ordered the town abandoned when they learned Carleton’s troops were approaching.
The Battle of Ware Bottom Church was fought #OTD in 1864. Part of the Bermuda Hundred Campaign, the battle was fought when eight confederate brigades under P.G.T. Beauregard attacked the @USArmy positions of General Benjamin Butler’s Army of the James. #CivilWar 🧵
It was a short, fierce engagement in which 1,400 of the 10,000 engaged troops became casualties. After it ended, Beauregard had his men construct the Howlett Line of defensive positions, further bottling up Butler’s larger force in the Bermuda Hundred Peninsula.
THREAD
#OTD Toussaint L'Ouverture (May 20, 1746 - Apr 7, 1803), Haitian general, leader of the Haitian Revolution. He 1st fought against the French, then for them, then finally against France again for Haitian independence.
#History
blackpast.org/global-african…
#OTD Toussaint L'Ouverture (May 20, 1746 - Apr 7, 1803), Haitian general, leader of the Haitian Revolution. He 1st fought against the French, then for them, then finally against France again for Haitian independence.
#History
blackpast.org/global-african…
