These are the arguments historians live for. Had one earlier on just how terribly Valley Forge - or any RevWar encampment - must have smelled, given that commanding officers often threatened soldiers with extreme punishments for defecating randomly about the place
And of course, Washington's famous incredibly exasperated order to his army outside Boston in 1775 to stop "voiding excrement about the field perniciously"
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The white supremacist rifle clubs attacked Black members of the South Carolina Militia (today the National Guard), torturing several before they killed them, in a deliberate act to show their disdain for the civil authority and freedpersons.
The instigators bragged about what they had done and were never brought to justice because they defeated Reconstruction with violence and political compromises. "We have had no fraud in our elections in South Carolina since 1884," boasted one of the organizers
The defeat of Reconstruction and the crime of "Reconciliation," where the north abandoned southern African-Americans and their white allies is one of the most important subjects in US history - and one of the most poorly taught.
Judging from the sounds outside, the neighborhood kids are playing "how many roman candles before we lose a finger" and so I therefore deduce it's July 4
And since it's July 4, I've had some gin, and do you have a moment to talk about the Gibraltar of the West?
Of course you do
Look, basic rule of thumb. Unless you're actual no shit Gibraltar, don't call yourself the "Gibraltar of X" it's never a good portent. Ticonderoga, Gibraltar of the north, falls in 1777. Crown Point, Gibraltar of the Hudson, falls in 1779. The trends don't lie
But I'm getting ahead of myself, which is to be expected because alcohol and history. Mixing the two has been known to cause problems, but we're just gonna surge right thru that
We begin with the Mississippi river. It's a bigass river. Like. Big. Ass.
It's around 0730 on the sunny, already-humid morning of July 1, 1863. One of the many blue-coated cavalry patrols and videttes posted to the roads surrounding the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania spots the movement of heavy columns of butternut uniforms west of the town
The troopers have had a long night in their outposts, heavy with dew, snatching as much sleep as a saddle and wet blanket will allow. The 8th Illinois Cavalry, nicknamed the Abolition Regiment, is posted on the Chambersburg Pike, which is now in the path of Beth's rebel division
Lt Marcellus Jones borrows the carbine of one of his troopers. He raises it, sights it onto a rebel officer, and fires. He misses. The heavy air echoes with the sound, soon replaced by the morning birdsong of Pennsylvania. But not for long. The crackle of carbines begins to grow
I have such a clear memory of this time I was doing my homework and dad came home, and hollered for me to come downstairs. He had a really amused tone in his voice, so I knew I wasn't in trouble. I came down a few stairs and looked over the bannisters. Dad put a box on the floor
Inside was a softly grunting pot-bellied pig. Dad thought it was the funniest thing ever. Mom was at work, and probably wouldn't have found this amusing, which I told him. He said it would be ok. He'd been visiting a friend & they were getting rid of it, so he took it