The Day; perhaps the decisive Day is come

… on which the fate of America depends.”

Or so Abigail Adams wrote to husband John the day after the Battle of Bunker Hill, which was fought on June 17, 1775. The first major battle of the American Revolutionary War, it was fought more than a year before the Declaration of Independence.

After the action at Lexington and Concord in April (Paul Revere’s ride, the shot heard ’round the world), the reinforced British were camped in Boston. The Massachusetts Committee of Safety determined to contain the British in the town by occupying the heights of Charlestown north of Boston (and Dorchester south of it). The strategy was dubious, however, because the militia did not have artillery to defend the heights once occupied.

Regardless, by the morning of June 17, some 1,200 Americans were entrenched on Breed’s Hill in Charlestown — not Bunker Hill, which is higher and would have been a better choice. (In other words, the battle is known by the wrong name.) Reinforcements increased the number to 1,500 by afternoon.

The Americans were bombarded by British cannon shooting uphill and without much effect. Around 3:30 some 2,200 British troops attacked the fortified position — uphill, carrying 125 pound knapsacks. The first two assaults were thrown back, but the third succeeded as American gun powder ran out after about two-and-a-half hours.

Though the British took the hill, they suffered more than 1,000 casualties — “The dead lay as thick as sheep in a fold.” American losses were less than 500.

The Battle of Bunker Hill encouraged the colonies. It proved that American forces could inflict heavy losses on the British. It also had the effect of confining the British out of their own excessive caution. There was no more military action around Boston and the Redcoats withdrew the following March. (By then the Americans under George Washington did have cannon on Dorchester Heights.)

An American officer, William Prescott, is said to have ordered during the battle, “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.”

The Massachusetts Historical Society has an excellent web site relating to the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Best line of the week

Q. What is the new definition of “Taliban”?
A. Anyone who lives above a lithium deposit

Scott Adams regarding “something that the Pentagon has known for years: Afghanistan is sitting on a trillion dollars worth of valuable minerals.”

“If you’re wondering when the U.S. will withdraw its forces from Afghanistan, you now have your answer: Never.”

Redux post of the day

One of the best gifts I’ve ever received was a losing lottery ticket. My brother bought it for me. I realize that doesn’t sound like a great gift, since it only cost a dollar, and it lost. But the way he did it was pure evil genius.

No one wants to buy a winning lottery ticket for someone else. You’d bang your head on the wall for the rest of your life, yelling “WHY OH WHY DIDN’T I KEEP THAT ONE??? WHAAAWHAAAAWHAAAA!!!” That’s bad for the wall.

My brother solved that problem by buying for himself two additional lottery tickets with the same numbers as the one he got for me. He explained that in case my ticket won, he wanted to be twice as rich. It’s the thought that counts.

The Dilbert Blog

Scott Adams goes on to explain that he’s told this story “about a hundred times, always to good effect.” So, it’s a gift that keeps on giving.

First posted here four years ago today.

Today’s Photo

A portion of San Felipe de Neri church at Plaza Vieja (Old Town), Albuquerque. The church was built in 1793 and, for the most part, stands pretty much as constructed. It is still a consecrated church and serves the parish of the same name established in 1706. Photo taken today with an iPhone 3G. The photo has not been edited.

Ford

Ford Motor Company entered the business world on June 16, 1903, when Henry Ford and 11 business associates signed the company’s articles of incorporation. With $28,000 in cash, the pioneering industrialists gave birth to what was to become one of the world’s largest corporations. …

The earliest record of a shipment is July 20, 1903, approximately one month after incorporation, to a Detroit physician. With the company’s first sale came hope—a young Ford Motor Company had taken its first steps.

Ford Motor Company

Two the 12 investors were Horace and John Dodge; they put up $5,000 each, $3,500 of it in write-offs of previously unpaid bills.

Another was Charles Bennett of the Daisy Air Rifle Company. His company board of directors balked at getting involved in the whimsical car business when they were so successful with air rifles — that is, B-B guns; Henry Ford balked when told the car would have to be called Daisy. Bennett ultimately invested his personal credit instead.

Henry Ford himself invested no cash.

An original $500 investment was worth $1,750,000 when Ford bought out the shareholders in 1919. That doesn’t include dividends along the way.

A house divided

Abraham Lincoln delivered his House Divided Speech at Springfield, Illinois, 152 years ago today.

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.

I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided.

It will become all one thing or all the other.

Either the opponents of slavery, will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the states, old as well as new — North as well as South.

The speech was made at the Illinois Republican State convention that had nominated Lincoln for U.S. Senator. It was a precursor to the Lincoln-Douglas debates in the campaign that followed, which Lincoln lost. It seems to be about as succinct a statement of the core issue of the American Civil War as one could find.

The phrase “a house divided” comes from Matthew 12:25 — “And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.”

Geronimo

Several sources give June 16, 1829, as Geronimo’s date of birth. It’s not clear to me that the Apaches were using the Gregorian calendar at that time. And, indeed, one of those sources, The New York Times, stated in its obituary of Geronimo in February 1909 that he was nearly 90 — not 79 as this birth date would indicate. But, he had to be born some time. So why not June 16?

In her excellent 1976 biography of Geronimo, Angie Debo concludes:

Geronimo was born in the early 1820’s near the upper Gila in the mountains crossed by the present state boundary [Arizona-New Mexico], probably on the Arizona side near the present Clifton. …

He was given the name Goyahkla, with the generally accepted meaning “One Who Yawns,’ why or under what circumstances is not known.

As an adult in battle he was called Geronimo by Mexican soldiers, perhaps because they could not pronounce Goyahkla, or perhaps to invoke Saint Jerome (Geronimo is Spanish for Jerome). The name was adopted for him by his own people.

In its obituary of Geronimo, The Times provided this quote:

Gen. Miles, in his memoirs, describes his first impression of Geronimo when he was brought into camp by Lawton, thus: “He was one of the brightest, most resolute, determined-looking men that I have ever encountered. He had the clearest, sharpest dark eye I think I have ever seen, unless it was that of Gen. Sherman.”

Some have wondered what motivated Geronimo to fight so fiercely. Perhaps this from his autobiography (written with S.M. Barrett in 1905) explains a little:

Geronimo.jpgIn the summer of 1858, being at peace with the Mexican towns as well as with all the neighboring Indian tribes, we went south into Old Mexico to trade. Our whole tribe (Bedonkohe Apaches) went through Sonora toward Casa Grande, our destination, but just before reaching that place we stopped at another Mexican town called by the Indians Kas-ki-yeh. Here we stayed for several days, camping outside the city. Every day we would go into town to trade, leaving our camp under the protection of a small guard so that our arms, supplies, and women and children would not be disturbed during our absence.

Late one afternoon when returning from town we were met by a few women and children who told us that Mexican troops from some other town had attacked our camp, killed all the warriors of the guard, captured all our ponies, secured our arms, destroyed our supplies, and killed many of our women and children. Quickly we separated, concealing ourselves as best we could until nightfall, when we assembled at our appointed place of rendezvous–a thicket by the river. Silently we stole in one by one: sentinels were placed, and, when all were counted, I found that my aged mother, my young wife, and my three small children were among the slain. There were no lights in camp, so without being noticed I silently turned away and stood by the river. How long I stood there I do not know, but when I saw the warriors arranging for a council I took my place.

Summer Chills: The Season’s Best Mystery Reads

Even if you are not among the twenty-seven million readers worldwide who bought the books in Stieg Larsson’s posthumously published Millennium trilogy, you’ve probably heard enough talk about “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” to know that readers are in the mood for mysteries this summer. As a former Agatha Christie addict who once subjected her mother to the nonstop playing of the “Murder in Mesopotamia” audio book during a road trip to Vermont, I’ve found that the Larsson craze has reawakened my love for mysteries. In search of some solid mystery recommendations for my summer reading list, I recently sought out Kizmin Reeves, one of the three owners of Partners & Crime, the venerable mystery-and-crime bookstore in Greenwich Village.

Store policy forbids employees from recommending books they haven’t read. This is no challenge for Reeves, who estimates that she reads ten mystery novels a week. Dressed all in black and fitted with a pin that read “I am not a serial killer” (it’s the title of a book), Reeves walked me around her store and pointed out some great summer reads.

The Book Bench : The New Yorker has the recommendations.

Isotopes

89 degrees at game time.

This is so tedious. I wish it was soccer.

2-1 Omaha after 3.

Hey, Ray proposed (via the scoreboard) and Leslie agreed. That’s cool.

One important thing. No vuvuzelas.

Lakers 51 Celtics 31 at half.

Hu’s on first. (Hu scored, but it’s 7-3 Omaha after 5.)

Awesome, I caught one of those foam baseballs they toss from the pressbox during the 7th inning stretch. After we sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” of course.

Hu’s at bat. Hu grounds out 4-3.

Still 7-3.

Lakers won. 11-5 here going into the 9th. 9:38 PM. 82 degrees. 15% humidity.

11-8 final score. Hey, that’s 19 runs. 19, that’s only four less than the total number of scores in the first 14 World Cup games.

[Chin-lung Hu]

“To Kill a Mockingbird” at Fifty

“To Kill a Mockingbird” might just be more popular than the Bible, Mary McDonagh Murphy suggests in the introductory chapter to her new book “Scout, Atticus & Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird.” Murphy writes:

Fifty years after its publication, it sells nearly a million copies every year—hundreds of thousands more than “The Catcher in the Rye,” “The Great Gatsby” or “Of Mice and Men,” American classics that are staples of high school classrooms. No other twentieth-century American novel is more widely read. Even British librarians, who were polled in 2006 and asked, “Which book should every adult read before they die?” voted “To Kill a Mockingbird” number one. The Bible was number two.

The Book Bench: The New Yorker

If you love the book, you’ll want to read this whole essay. If you don’t love the book, WTF.

“Reading ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is something millions of us have in common,” Murphy writes, “and yet there is nothing common about the experience.”

An omen?

A six-story-tall statue of Jesus Christ with his arms raised along a highway was struck by lightning in a thunderstorm Monday night and burned to the ground, police said.

The “King of Kings” statue, one of southwest Ohio’s most familiar landmarks, had stood since 2004 at the evangelical Solid Rock Church along Interstate 75 in Monroe, just north of Cincinnati.

Salon.com