tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60795727901195358932024-03-13T06:29:48.496-07:00All Points West:A South Carolinian’s website about his obsession with Lewis and
Clark, early frontiers, and the American WestAndyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-56569413431172681932011-03-17T08:00:00.000-07:002011-03-17T16:16:48.298-07:00“Paddy” Works to Link the West to South Carolina<div align="center"></div><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582641892117031602" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 226px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ALsGnuw2onE/TXmHOQfZqrI/AAAAAAAAAYg/QKn3XvfHLqc/s400/002.jpg" border="0" /></p><br /><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span></strong>housands of Irish immigrants, escaping the poverty of Ireland, came to America in the 19th century seeking a better way of life. Many of these immigrants drifted West to build railroads and other massive engineering projects such as canals and bridges. Some of these men and their families also came South as free laborers or as indentured servants. Several large engineering projects in Antebellum South Carolina are monuments to these Irish workers.<br /><br /><br /><div><div><br /><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582642062513738834" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 173px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QHEwlc_S81Y/TXmHYLRJFFI/AAAAAAAAAYw/6izuAR2asqg/s400/001.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he 1820’s was a period in which Americans sought to create internal improvements in their transportation and communication system. It was no different in South Carolina. Many in Charleston desired to tap the wealth of the West. They dreamed of a series of canals to connect the Mississippi River with the waterways of South Carolina and subsequently the city of Charleston. To accomplish this feat a plan was drawn up and the first canals were to be built in South Carolina to improve its own transportation system from the backcountry to the coast. It was an age of “canal fever.”<br /><div><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582641980822114018" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 264px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CvR1aWVlldw/TXmHTa8VzuI/AAAAAAAAAYo/F4A5iabFjX8/s400/003.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>wo of the projects to accomplish this goal were the Landsford Canal and the Columbia Canal. The Landsford Canal , near Lancaster, South Carolina, was designed by the architect Robert Mills and it was located on the Catawba River and bypassed the rocks and shoals of the main river channel. It was to provide a direct route to upstate settlements and towns on the fall line and beyond to the city of Charlestown. Construction began in the 1820’s. African slave labor was used but slaves were valuable in this plantation economy and it was cheaper to use Irish-Americans workers. In addition, some of these Irishmen were skilled in the process of cutting stone and building canals. They were recruited from the northern states to build the 2 mile long canal. They used mostly physical strength and animal power with some explosives to build it. The canal was not a financial success and by 1840 had been superseded by the new technology of railroads.<br /><br /></div><div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5583723415631068322" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K8huIT81u54/TX1e3Ni4fKI/AAAAAAAAAZI/V-PUSMg-17M/s400/P1020774.JPG" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">A</span>nother canal that also employed Irishmen was the Columbia Canal. It was started in 1824 and was also designed by Robert Mills. Its goal was to again make it easier to transport goods from the backcountry to Charleston and back. It took more than $209,000 to build it. Irish indentured servants were employed on this project. Hundreds of these men died in building it due to disease and accidents and a memorial was dedicated to them on the site of the canal in 2008. It too failed in its original purpose. Later in 1891 this canal was rebuilt and extended to supply drinking water to the city of Columbia and surrounding areas and was also used to generate electricity as the 20th century dawned in the Capitol City of the Palmetto State. Today the memorial to the Irish workers is at the edge of the old canal and is shaped like the letter "I" for Ireland.<br /></div><br /><br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5583724366963032930" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aeXD-8zaETA/TX1fuliGQ2I/AAAAAAAAAZY/_qM7UBcZwWY/s400/P1020778.JPG" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5583723776894347074" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 208px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8R46I40tZCc/TX1fMPWwp0I/AAAAAAAAAZQ/irb-1io7HCs/s400/P1020761.JPG" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span>rishmen also appear on South Carolina’s northwestern mountain frontier. This time they are employed by a railroad. They were there to build the Blue Ridge railroad and a series of tunnels through the mountains of South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The railroad’s terminus was Cincinnati, Ohio. Once again investors from Charleston were involved. They hoped this railroad from Charleston to the Ohio River Valley would tap the wealth of that growing region. The railroad construction was begun in the 1850’s. In 1856 the tunnel at Stumphouse Mountain was begun. It was to be one of the longest railroad tunnels in the United States. The George Collyer Company from London ended up as the eventual contractor for the project. They contracted Irish workers for the job and transported them to the area. These Irishmen created a town on top of Stumphouse Mountain called Tunnel Town.<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5583727234766234674" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l0zumM1jxGM/TX1iVg7qZDI/AAAAAAAAAZg/MlVC1Vfdmno/s400/P1020576.JPG" border="0" /><br /><br /><div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582631699436633618" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sBGr5ziKJTc/TXl989zBfhI/AAAAAAAAAXo/IqsYnDbCT8Q/s400/P1020584.JPG" border="0" /> <span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>unnel Town had stores, saloons, a post office, a school, a boarding house, 3 blacksmith’s shops and a Catholic church. It also had daily stagecoach service. At the foot of Issaquena Falls and close by the town was Wagener’s Powder Mill. The mill had been opened by a German immigrant to supply black powder for blasting for the workers. The height of Tunnel Town’s population was 1,282 people. Father Jeremiah Joseph O’Connell arrived from Ireland to offer spiritual guidance to the town. He was dismayed by the drunkenness and lawlessness he found in Tunnel Town. It was said that there were more saloons than churches. Father O’Connell used his influence to get the railroad to fire anyone that did not remain sober. He built a Catholic church and dedicated it to St. Patrick. He also established a school for the education of the workers' families.</div><div><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582632135020193650" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XMMLz87HGoE/TXl-WUePJ3I/AAAAAAAAAXw/UFnYXCvs98o/s400/P1020586.JPG" border="0" /> <span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he work was hard. The men worked 12 hours a day and 6 days a week. They mostly used sledgehammers and hand drills to create the tunnel. Drilling was slow. One foot per hour per hole was the rule. Black powder, the predecessor to dynamite, was used to blast the blue granite rock. Working on the railroad and tunnel proved dangerous work. Death was not uncommon as reported by the local <strong><em>Keowee Courier</em></strong> newspaper. Some workers slipped and fell to their death in shafts, some were crushed by cave-ins, others died from such things as premature powder explosions, or by being scaled by the steam of a locomotive. </div><br /><div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582632400544492642" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sFVBScMVXUA/TXl-lxoKbGI/AAAAAAAAAX4/MqxUOs-av9o/s400/P1020587.JPG" border="0" /> <span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>oday, 1,617 feet of the tunnel is exposed. The state spent more than a million dollars on the railroad and the tunnel. Only about 2/3’s of the tunnel was completed. Some sections in the interior are now flooded. Work on it was abandoned in 1859. Then came Civil War and the idea of this proposed railroad never again saw the light of day. The tunnel at Stumphouse Mountain is now a South Carolina state park. The tunnel , a constant 56 degrees year round, was used for a time in the 1940’s and 1950’s by Clemson University to make its famous Blue Cheese. This operation has since moved to the Clemson campus which is nearby. There is little on the top of the mountain to indicate the presence of Tunnel Town today.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">F</span>rom the Wateree to the Capitol City and from the Capitol City to the Blue Ridge of the Keowee, “Paddy” was at work in 19th century South Carolina as he was on all the subsequent frontiers of America. <strong>Happy Saint Patrick’s Day and Erin Go Braugh! </strong><strong><br /></strong></div><strong><br /><br /></strong><p><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582637698921532130" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ro441BEznBc/TXmDaLnsCuI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/PTN9W-I5tPw/s400/Guinness%2BStore%2BHouse%2BTower%2BBar.JPG" border="0" /><br /></strong>Andy Thomas<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>Sources Used to Write this Blog: </strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582634960238125106" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jmJSoL74k8s/TXmA6xOroDI/AAAAAAAAAYA/545B4-EDG8A/s400/P1010168.JPG" border="0" /><br /></strong></span>Wikipedia:<br />1) Landsford Canal: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landsford_Canal">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landsford_Canal</a><br /><br /></p><p>2) Stumphouse Mountain Tunnel: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stumphouse_Mountain_Tunnel">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stumphouse_Mountain_Tunnel</a><br /><em></em></p><p><em>“Columbia pays tribute to Irish laborers who built canal,”</em> Adam Bean, <strong>The Rock Hill Herald</strong>, September 8, 2008: <a href="http://www.heraldonline.com/2008/09/06/797474/columbia-pays-tribute-to-irish.html">http://www.heraldonline.com/2008/09/06/797474/columbia-pays-tribute-to-irish.html</a> </p><p>Oconee Heritage Center Website: <a href="http://oconeeheritagecenter.org/eratwo.html">http://oconeeheritagecenter.org/eratwo.html</a> </p><p>The Historical Marker Database Website: <a href="http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=15041">http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=15041</a> </p><div>Landsford Canal State Park Field Trip: <a href="http://www.oldeenglishconsortium.org/TAH/content/curriculum/lesson_plans/grade8/grade8_87landsford_canal_park.pdf">http://www.oldeenglishconsortium.org/TAH/content/curriculum/lesson_plans/grade8/grade8_87landsford_canal_park.pdf</a><br /><div><em>“Robert Leckie and the Landsford Canal,”</em> Louis Pettus, on <strong>rootsweb</strong> website: <a href="http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~waxhaw/pettus/leckie_landsford.html">http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~waxhaw/pettus/leckie_landsford.html</a> </div></div></div></div></div>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-76520044835322119102011-03-09T13:08:00.000-08:002011-03-10T17:35:26.541-08:00Jean Couture: The Forgotten Coureur De Bois of South Carolina<span style="font-size:180%;">R</span>ivers became the “road to empire” in North America in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Lewis and Clark expedition was focused on finding an east to west water route to the Pacific. In countless other examples of the uses of rivers to move and transport men and materials or trade goods the picture is clear of their importance and their strategic value in nation-building. <div><div><div><div><div><div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582249072066066194" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 257px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qvncL1dPtZg/TXgh9HxAdxI/AAAAAAAAAWo/Ab-Wy7CFOiQ/s320/coureur-de-bois.jpg" border="0" /> <span style="font-size:180%;">B</span>y the year 1700 the competition between the English and French in North America was heating up. The French discoveries of La Salle and Tonti had revealed the Mississippi River Basin. It was believed that control of this river could be of great importance to trade and a key to control of the entire North American continent. Both European powers wanted to project their influence and power among the native peoples living on the Mississippi and on rivers that connected with it. The Ohio was one of those rivers and would become the flashpoint for the future French and Indian War. To a lesser extent the Tennessee River was also recognized as important to control since it flowed through the Cherokee lands, home to a major southeastern tribe, and then converged with the Ohio River which in turn led to the Mississippi River. Soon, thanks to the efforts of a Frenchman named Jean Couture, it was discovered that the Savannah River was a short portage away from the Tennessee River and could lead to a useful water route to the West for the English traders from the colony of South Carolina. To these Englishmen the Ohio-Tennessee-Savannah water route held the potential to be a “road to empire” or an unwanted invasion route for a hostile power.<br /><br /><br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582255583868128386" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 250px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9ZZK92ApD-Y/TXgn4KHmjII/AAAAAAAAAXA/gXCQO4wt3cY/s400/Tallassee-site-tn1.jpg" border="0" /> <span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he man who discovered this route was later known as a <em>coureur de bois</em> and because he was involved with the famous expeditions of La Salle and Tonti we have information on him that we do not normally have on many other courerus de bois. Jean Couture was born in Rouen in the Normandy region of France and his occupation was listed as a carpenter. We do not know his date of birth. At some point he migrated to Canada and became involved in the fur trade. Couture was a trapper who was a veteran of one of La Salle’s early expeditions. In 1684 La Salle had identified this man who had accompanied him as a resident of Canada. Two years later in 1686, Couture followed the Italian explorer Henri de Tonti, who was in the employ of the French, down the Mississippi in an unsuccessful attempt to join up with La Salle. On the return journey Tonti appointed Couture as a commandant and ordered him and four other Frenchmen to build a post at the mouth of the Arkansas River which would later be known as Arkansas Post. This post was to serve as a way station between the French Illinois country and La Salle’s projected French colony in Louisiana. It would also help to maintain a trade alliance with the Arkansas tribes and help to protect them from raids from English-allied Iroquois. In July 1687, the survivors of La Salle’s ill-fated expedition found Couture at this frontier post. After learning of La Salle’s death, Couture made his way to Fort Saint Louis in the Illinois country to await the return of Tonti and inform him of La Salle’s death. Because of these events Couture appears most prominently in the French records.</div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;">S</span>everal years later his name reappears in the colonial records for the English colony of South Carolina. It seems that he had deserted from his military service to New France and become a <strong>coureur de bois</strong>, a “runner of the woods”, who illegally and without the permission of the French authorities, went into business for himself trading furs to the English colonists and others. Desertion from New France by men like Couture was not uncommon. It was illegal to engage in unlicensed trading. English prices for furs, however, paid more than French prices and this tempted some like Couture to carry their furs to the English or to even desert to the English colonies. Couture appears to have been a deserter and he may have also been looked upon as a traitor for his cooperation with the English. His far-flung exploits had gained him a reputation among Englishmen who called him the <em>“greatest Trader and Traveller amongst the Indians for more than Twenty years.”</em> His reputation attracted attention and he became involved in two schemes that if successful would have profited the English at the expense of the French. </div><div><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he first scheme was a complete failure. Some South Carolina investors had heard myths of ancient Spanish mines in the Appalachian Mountains and wanted Couture to help them discover these mines and their deposits of precious metals such as silver. Though, Couture had his own story to tell and claimed that there was a gold mine somewhere in the region, all attempts to locate these mines or precious metals failed.<br /><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582266720239159298" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 270px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TBVebF0HJ9E/TXgyAYVXCAI/AAAAAAAAAXY/7M380zKghaw/s400/Savannah%2BRiver%2B001.jpg" border="0" /> <span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he second scheme succeeded in the short term but failed in the long run. It was an attempt to develop and expand the English deer skin and fur trade to the Mississippi River and beyond by way of a water route. This trade brought in enormous profits to the Carolina colony and was used to cement alliances with Indian tribes and project territorial power. Before Couture the only known way to the west was a long and challenging land route skirting the Appalachian Mountains to the south. In 1700 Jean Couture led a party of Englishmen up the Tennessee River to the Ohio and then onto the Mississippi River. These men hoped to divert a large proportion of the waterborne Western trade in furs from New France to the colony of South Carolina. These traders carried presents of ammunition and merchandise to establish trade with the Mississippi tribes and others they met along the way. They also carried papers from the South Carolina Governor Joseph Blake claiming the Mississippi country as a part of the territory of England. By February 1700 the party reached the mouth of the Arkansas River where Couture had years ago built a post. The Carolinians recruited the local Quapaw Indians to raid a rival group for slaves and deerskins and set out for Charles Town with their booty. The word was spread far and wide that the English had found an east to west water route to the heart of the continent.<br /><br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582254580879456226" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 296px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YTnAE0Imzdw/TXgm9xsd9-I/AAAAAAAAAW4/CIdlg4asFCk/s400/Savannah%252520River2.jpg" border="0" /> <span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>his weighed heavily on the French during the next several years. What if other <em>coureurs de bois</em> traded their furs for the better prices in Charles Town? This could disrupt the economic foundations of France’s New World settlements. The route also threatened France’s line of communication along the Mississippi between the older and more established Canadian lands and the newly established colony in the Mississippi region. In 1701 the first royal governor of Louisiana, Pierre le Moyne de Iberville, ordered a reverse journey of the Tennessee River. Four Frenchmen took up the challenge. These <em>coureurs de bois</em> found a portage of a league and a half (no more than 5 miles) between the westward and eastward flowing rivers of the Little Tennessee and the Savannah. The Frenchmen reported after returning to Louisiana that they had discovered Couture’s route which included this portage near the Cherokee Valley Towns in Tennessee and that it easily linked the Little Tennessee River with the Savannah River drainage system. </div><div><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-size:180%;">B</span>y this route these men descended the Savannah River to the Atlantic Ocean and then followed the coast north to Charles Town where they met with Governor James Moore and discussed a trading pact. They negotiated the opening of trade for themselves and 15 others of their fellows back in the Mississippi country. They then made their way back again following the same water route and arrived in Biloxi, Mississippi were they reported back to Iberville. The journey was a trip of some 400 leagues. </div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582262890714260722" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 250px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 224px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7C7tQUpdhuo/TXguhePeZPI/AAAAAAAAAXI/AVwOACPep3w/s400/tennessee-river-map.gif" border="0" /><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>his short term success of opening an Ohio-Tennessee-Savannah water route fell apart over the next several years. Three causes insured that this route never became the “road to empire” for Englishmen. They included the French establishment of Louisiana, the creation of Catholic Indian missions, and the 1715 Yemasee War. The establishment of the French colony in Louisiana and the establishment of Catholic missions created Indians friendly to the French cause and retarded the attempts of the Carolina traders to divert the Western trade. Biloxi, Mobile, and New Orleans were much closer to trade with than with Charles Town. And then, in 1715, a major realignment of tribes and a shift in fortunes of empire occurred with the Yemasee War that devastated the Carolina colony and sheared off many of its far-flung trade connections and allies. For the first time the Ohio-Tennessee-Savannah water route held both the lure of profit and also the uneasy prospect of a French or French-allied Native American invasion. For the next 40 plus years this tension would remain until the French and Indian War decided the language that most Europeans would speak in North America: English. With the English colonies secure the importance of the Ohio-Tennessee-Savannah water route was greatly diminished. The legend of the brave <em>coureur de bois</em>, Jean Couture, who travelled the vast wilderness of colonial North America was also forgotten. </div><br /><div>Andy Thomas </div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>Sources used in the blog: </strong></div><br /><div><strong><em>The Dividing Paths: Cherokees and South Carolinians Through the Revolutionary Era</em></strong> by Tom Hatley </div><br /><div><em>“The Tennessee River as the Road to Carolina: The Beginnings of Exploration and Trade”</em> by Verner W. Crane, <strong>Mississippi Valley Historical Review</strong>, Vol. 3, No. 1 (June 1916), pp. 3-18. </div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-80919045786446009572010-08-05T14:04:00.000-07:002010-12-24T06:18:06.817-08:00Old Hickory and the Cast Iron Man Shape Both Dixie and Manifest Destiny<div align="center"></div><div align="center"><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553721160116964626" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/TRLH-GJXjRI/AAAAAAAAAWA/fI8n4Rha2Cs/s400/010.JPG" border="0" /><br /><p align="center">Andrew Jackson State Park near Lancaster, South Carolina</p><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>wo famous Americans born on South Carolina’s rough and ready frontier would have a hand in shaping the history of the American West. One was the populist American hero of the Battle of New Orleans. The other was the fiery demagogue of Nullification and State’s Rights. Both served in some of the highest offices in the land and both served in the same administration. But Andrew Jackson, known as Old Hickory, and John C. Calhoun, known as the Cast Iron Man, departed ways as the 19th century neared its midpoint. Their split served as an omen for the issue of slavery and its ultimate divisive nature for the American Republic. Their careers, however, also embraced such frontier and western issues as indian removal and Manifest Destiny.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553726736496800706" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/TRLNCrx7M8I/AAAAAAAAAWY/VX_uM4LjnyQ/s320/018.JPG" border="0" /><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Young Andrew Jackson Statue at Andrew Jackson State Park near Lancaster, SC </span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;">A</span>ndrew Jackson, who was to become the 7th President of the United States, was born in 1767 in the Waxhaw region on the border between the two Carolinas. Jackson, himself, claimed he had been born in a little cabin in South Carolina just south of the border and considered himself a South Carolinian. His parents were Scotch-Irish and were recent immigrants. Jackson was taught to read and write in a frontier school. He received his education in other matters by experience. When the American Revolution broke out, Jackson, aged 13, volunteered along with his brothers and served as a courier for the Patriot forces under Colonel William Richardson Davie. He and one of his brothers participated in the Battle of Hanging Rock. Both young Jacksons were captured by the British and held as prisoners of war. They nearly starved to death. An infamous incident occurred during this young lad's desperate time. A British officer told Jackson to lick and clean his boots with his tongue. Jackson refused and the angry man slashed Jackson with his sword cutting his hand and head and leaving deep scars. Emotionally Jackson had scars too. He developed an intense hatred for the British and even more so when his brother died from smallpox during his imprisonment. Jackson, helped by his mother, was released but she also succumbed to the deadly disease. By age 14, Andrew Jackson was an orphan.<br /></p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553720755738625618" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 250px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/TRLHmjuDxlI/AAAAAAAAAVw/mq0uvjtkWqM/s320/769px-Andrew-Jackson-disobeys-British-officer-1780.png" border="0" /> <p align="center">Andrew Jackson stands up to British Officier<br /></p><div align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;">A</span>fter his release in 1781, Jackson moved west to North Carolina and then Tennessee. He taught school and studied and practiced frontier law. Jackson soon became a planter and merchant as well as a speculator of Western lands. He grew cotton and he owned slaves. He built a home, called the Hermitage, near Nashville, Tennessee. He also served as an officer in the local militia. This militia was called up to fight during both the Creek War and the subsequent War of 1812. Jackson became a national hero by defeating the Creeks at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814 (<em>See my blog entry: The Battle of Horseshoe Bend: Hidden Gem in the Story of the Saga of the American West, August 4, 2009</em>) and later the British at the Battle of New Orleans in 181<a name="5728102521713032073"></a>5 (<em>See my blog entry: Old Hickory Secures the Louisiana Purchase, March 19, 2009</em>). He went on to serve as a United States senator from Tennessee and ran twice for the United States Presidency before being elected in 1828. As President he served 2 terms. He was the first President born of immigrant parents and he was the first President from the frontier and the West. His victories at Horseshoe Bend and New Orleans opened and secured the West for American expansion and settlement. In addition, Jackson was heavily involved with Indian Affairs and set in motion the removal of more than 45,000 Native Americans living in the East. By means of the Indian Removal Act (1830) he was authorized to negotiate treaties for tribal lands and make payments to Native Americans for lands in the East in exchange for lands in the West beyond the United States borders. He directed that tribes such as the Cherokee and Creeks should be moved west of the Mississippi River and settled on the vast, “deserted” lands of the West. His first Vice President was John C. Calhoun.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">J</span>ohn C. Calhoun, who was to become the 7th Vice President of the United States, was born in 1782 in the backcountry of South Carolina. His parents were also Scotch-Irish. He had to quit his studies at an early age to maintain the family farm after his father became ill. Later he was able to earn a degree at Yale College and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He studied law and then became a lawyer in South Carolina in 1807. Calhoun had a quick mind and was a brilliant orator and was elected to the United States Senate from South Carolina in 1810. He served from 1810 to 1817 and led the charge, along with other War Hawks, to declare war on Great Britain in 1812. He also was an ardent nationalist during this time and sponsored many bills to improve the nation’s standing by supporting industry and building internal improvements.<br /><br /><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553720567402445890" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 262px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/TRLHbmHNvEI/AAAAAAAAAVg/LPsAO4MbDsc/s320/JCCalhoun-1822.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;"></span><br /><div align="center">John C. Calhoun</div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;">C</span>alhoun was appointed as Secretary of War under President James Madison in 1817. He served in this position until 1825. One of his responsibilities was for the management of Indian affairs. He tried to make the Indian department more efficient and to centralize it. Congress frustrated Calhoun in these attempts. Calhoun, in turn, even though he was overstepping his mandate as Secretary of War, decided to use his power to create the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1824. He worked during this period to negotiate and ratify treaties with various Indian tribes. He succeeded in having 38 treaties passed during his tenure. He also had an opportunity to work with William Clark during this time. Clark served as the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Missouri. He and Calhoun corresponded about many of the Native Americans found in the still new Louisiana Purchase. Calhoun was adamant to maintain that Native Americans groups did not represent nations as did traditional European Powers. Treaties were written to reflect that belief and were one of the factors that supported and led to Indian removal in the East and massive migration of European Americans onto the Great Plains and beyond.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">C</span>alhoun was elected to the Vice Presidency in 1824. He served first under John Adams and then, with the election of Andrew Jackson, he served with him over the next 8 years. What began as a cordial relationship between these two South Carolinians quickly unraveled under the strain of the Nullification Crisis of 1828-1832 and in the clash of beliefs between these two men. Calhoun opposed the Tariff of 1828 and frustrated that it was not repealed he wrote the famous <em><strong>South Carolina Exposition and </strong></em><em><strong>Protest</strong></em> in which he forwarded his theory of nullification—the right of a state to reject laws and legislation found objectionable to its interests. Jackson, who strongly believed in a powerful central government, did not support that position and the feelings between the two men grew antagonistic. At a 1830 Jefferson Day Dinner Calhoun proposed a toast with the words: “The Union, next to our liberty, most dear.” Jackson responded with his toast of “Our federal union, it must be preserved.”<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">B</span>y 1831 the break between the two men was final. Then along came the Nullification Crisis. In the Nullification Crisis, South Carolina, using Calhoun’s logic, repealed the national tariff and in fact declared it null and void and all other such federal laws that went against the state of South Carolina’s interests. In response, Jackson was empowered by Congress to enforce all federal legislation with the Force Bill. South Carolina then nullified the Force Bill. Senator Henry Clay worked behind the scenes in trying to cool things down by seeking a compromise on the tariff. He eventually got the Congress to pass the Compromise Tariff of 1833.<br /></div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553723112014053218" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 213px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/TRLJvth5f2I/AAAAAAAAAWQ/AEG2PjzCkmw/s320/001.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div align="center">President Andrew Jackson</div><p align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;">D</span>uring the crisis, Jackson had vowed to send troops to South Carolina to enforce any federal law that was enacted. South Carolina backed down but Calhoun never forgot it and went on to build support in the south for his theory of nullification and state’s rights. Calhoun had resigned over these issues with Jackson in 1832. He returned to his Ft. Hill Plantation in today's Clemson, South Carolina and once again became a Senator for the state, serving until his death in 1850. Jackson retired to Nashville after his presidency and lived at The Hermitage until he died in 1845.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553720445918480162" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 294px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/TRLHUhjLhyI/AAAAAAAAAVY/26RG73MkAYs/s320/002.jpg" border="0" /></p><div align="center">The Hermitage near Nashville, Tennessee</div><div align="center"></div><span style="font-size:180%;">M</span>eanwhile, Calhoun opposed both the abolition of slavery and the attempts to limit the spread of slavery to the West. Calhoun was eager to annex the Republic of Texas, as were other Southerners. Texas was a slave country and would help Calhoun’s cause. Calhoun devised a joint resolution of the House of Congress to amend rules on the vote for accepting Texas as a state by election through a simple majority. This worked to counter Northern attempts to block the acceptance of the Lone Star Republic and Texas joined the Union in 1846. War with Mexico soon followed. Strangely Calhoun opposed the war, fearing the annexation of millions of "colored" Mexicans and all that would mean to the system of slavery in the South. He participated in the debate over Texas which led to the Compromise of 1850. Calhoun also disagreed with the Compromise of 1850 because it limited the spread of slavery and would upset the representative balance of southern and northern states. This was his last battle. Calhoun died in 1850. His support for slavery and states’ rights went on to influence the South and subsequent events that led to the Civil War.<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553720657484181330" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/TRLHg1sX71I/AAAAAAAAAVo/lZEFPSGuCaU/s320/800px-Fort_Hill.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"></span> Fort Hill Plantation in Clemson, South Carolina</p><p align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;">B</span>oth Jackson and Calhoun had been born on the South Carolina frontier. Both however, had come to have competing visions of America. Calhoun looked to the East while Jackson looked to the West. Jackson saw a strong federal government employed in removing Indians and settling the west. Calhoun saw a method to assert state’s rights and to preserve his home state’s system of slavery either with or without annexation of western lands. This issue was to boil until the outbreak of the Civil War. Both Jackson and Calhoun’s legacy, however also had much bearing on the frontier and the west including both the issues of American expansion and Indian removal. Both of these issues led to the later period of Manifest Destiny and the clash between native peoples and Europeans and the spread of American culture to the West.<br /><br />Andy Thomas<br /><br />Sources Used to Write this Blog:<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson</a><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Calhoun">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Calhoun</a> </p>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-57738272540145789882010-06-18T13:48:00.000-07:002010-06-21T14:12:20.635-07:00Spirit of the American Frontier<div align="center"><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485289843838328706" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/TB-qDPgKn4I/AAAAAAAAATQ/ZYmwChNWB0Q/s400/043.JPG" border="0" /><br /><div align="center"></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;">A</span>lcohol was an important element in the settling of the frontier and the American West. Alcohol served to cement alliances between European nations and Native Americans, as well as serving as a conduit for trade. It served to relieve pain, boredom, and thirst on many different American frontiers. It also led to extreme violence and early death for some. Although rum and brandy were the initial beverages available on the earliest frontiers, it did not take long for liquor made from corn to become the "spirit" of the American frontier.<br /><br /><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485291030224707442" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/TB-rITIuH3I/AAAAAAAAATg/A73vVN1ZHGE/s320/038.JPG" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">W</span>hy corn? Corn was ubiquitous in America. It grew everywhere and was a major component in the diet of Native Americans, colonists, and their African slaves. Native Americans probably fermented some types of beverages from native fruits and plants like all other indigenous peoples throughout the world. Though evidence is scant, a weak type of corn beer may have been part of the diet of many Native American tribes. Some tribes may have had no types of fermented beverages which may explain why they were quickly addicted to West Indian Rum and French Brandy. Even if they did have some types of alcoholic drinks, they were quickly abandoned after the discovery of the stronger, better-tasting European spirits including spirits made with corn.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">A</span>nother factor in why corn was a favorite had to do with logistics. Corn was not an easy product to haul to market from the frontier. Instead of taking 10 carts of corn to market, the early American settler could convert his product to alcohol and send one cart of whiskey to the market and make considerable profit. And so, early colonists began to experiment with corn to see if they could produce a good tasting alcoholic beverage with it that helped to provide a drinking potable for the colonists who did not have a fresh, clean water supply.<br /><br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485289272965641042" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/TB-piA1gs1I/AAAAAAAAATI/IOkacU5HyDU/s400/040.JPG" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span>n a 1682 travel narrative Thomas Ashe described an early forerunner to American corn-based distillations when he wrote that the South Carolina settlers “have lately invented a way of making it good sound Beer, but it’s strong and heady: By Maceration, when duly fermented, a strong Spirit like Brandy may be drawn off from it, by help of an Alembick.” An Alembick was an early type of still. This method of distilling the beverage along with the further refinements of adding additional grains such as rye, wheat, and barley would eventually give way to the American Bourbon industry that was to cast its shadow from its origins in Bourbon County, Kentucky to the shores of the Pacific.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485291627541323602" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/TB-rrEUGX1I/AAAAAAAAATo/fLhFip1nufI/s400/046.JPG" border="0" /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span>t was the Scotch-Irish who also brought their own experience and technologies to America that helped to spark a revolution in American distilling. Many frontiersmen took this spark to the frontier. And in the late 1700’s, American settlers in the “dark and bloody” lands of Kaintuck set about turning their corn into whiskey for sale in distant markets. One of them, Reverend Elijah Craig, was an independent Baptist preacher who had spent some time in a South Carolina jail because he did not have an Episcopal ordination from the Anglican establishment. Craig, moved to Bourbon County to practice his religion freely. He owned a corn mill there. One day a fire broke out and charred the inside of some of his oak barrels which he used to age and ship his corn whiskey. Not wanting to be wasteful he used the barrels to ship his product to New Orleans. After the long trip the whiskey had mellowed to a smoother and richer flavor. People started calling this product Bourbon because it was from Bourbon County, Kentucky. The end result was it became an American frontier favorite.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485290479492778242" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/TB-qoPf_yQI/AAAAAAAAATY/UEbzMjJxI10/s320/039.JPG" border="0" /> <span style="font-size:180%;">W</span>hen I visited Kentucky earlier this year I visited the Woodford Distillery. The history of the distillery began in 1812 and the distillery building (1834) is one of the oldest buildings of nine working distiliries in Kentucky and the site is now a National Historic Landmark. Today a super-premium bourbon named Woodford Reseeve is produced there. It is the official bourbon of the Kentucky Derby.<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485288657522808274" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/TB-o-MIgVdI/AAAAAAAAATA/-H9RmIsn6VI/s400/033.JPG" border="0" /> <p align="center">The smell of "corn beer" before it is distilled is wonderful</p><p><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">M</span>int Juleps are made from bourbon, sugar and mint leaves. The Mint Julep is thought of as the classic Southern American cocktail and naturally it is made with Bourbon Whiskey. It is also the drink of the ultimate horse race: the Kentucky Derby. The Mint Julep's origins are from the Middle East where “julab” the Arab word for rose water became julep in most western languages. The drink’s ancestors appeared in England during the 1400’s as concoctions of sugar, water, and herbs or plants. These were used in non-alcoholic combinations mainly for medicinal purposes. Later alcohol was added. Rum, whiskey, and brandy were favorites. This drink was brought to the American colonies. Instead of rum and brandy, corn whiskey was used. There was also the adaptation in the colonies of adding mint leaves to the drink. Good bourbon soon followed, replacing the corn whiskey and became its main ingredient. In 1845, a South Carolinian named William Heyward Trapier reintroduced juleps to the students attending Oxford University in England when he found out they were unfamiliar with them. Since then, Oxford University has toasted has name and celebrated “Mint Julep Day” on June 1st every year. </p><p><span style="font-size:180%;">B</span>ourbon is still made today at places like Woodford Reserve in traditional small batches. I encourage you to sometime soon imbibe on the spirit of America’s frontier.<br /><br /><br /></p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485292503523706402" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 165px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/TB-seDmkxiI/AAAAAAAAATw/plLDQPlMQzM/s200/242525.jpg" border="0" /><br />Andy Thomas<br /><br />Sources used:<br />The South Carolina quotation is from <strong><em>Narratives of Early Carolina</em></strong>, edited by Alexander S. Salley, 1911<br /><br />Bourbon Whiskey: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourbon_whiskey">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourbon_whiskey</a><br /><br /><br />Woodford Distillery: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodford_Reserve">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodford_Reserve</a><br /><br /><br />Mint Julep:<br /><a href="http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/leisureold/1636158.mint_julep_recipe/?act=login">http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/leisureold/1636158.mint_julep_recipe/?act=login</a>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-53105702702564036612010-05-14T11:09:00.000-07:002010-05-18T16:41:37.968-07:00See the West without leaving the South<strong></strong><br /><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472757215817726242" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/S_MjsR7FeSI/AAAAAAAAASY/jlPVqZSzT3Q/s400/010.JPG" border="0" /></strong><br /><strong>I</strong> recently took a trip to the Booth Western Art Museum. It is a spectacular little jewel of an art museum in Cartersville, Georgia. It is the second largest art museum in the state of Georgia behind the High Museum in Atlanta. It has works of art and sculpture from some of the most famous artists who have depicted the American West. There are paintings and sculptures from such famous artists as George Catlin, Albert Bierstadt, Charles Russell, Fredrick Remington, and Thomas Moran on display there. There is also a section devoted to Civil War and Presidential paintings and portraits. Another section is devoted to poster art created for Western movies. Modern contemporary Western art, scupture, and Native American art and artifacts are also on display.<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472757697681297458" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/S_MkIVAUEDI/AAAAAAAAASw/X_D0LUVXDSg/s400/024.JPG" border="0" /><br /><strong>T</strong>his museum is the only one of its kind in the South. It is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution. If you are traveling to Atlanta some time soon, check it out. It is only about 45 minutes away and it really is a treat be able to see the West in the South. <div><div><div><div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472757919527164562" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/S_MkVPcfWpI/AAAAAAAAAS4/QHPVgRqz7gE/s400/012.JPG" border="0" /><br />Andy Thomas<br /><br /><strong>See the Museum website at:</strong> <a href="http://www.boothmuseum.org/">http://www.boothmuseum.org/</a> </div></div></div></div>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-29181382341292168032010-05-14T09:36:00.000-07:002010-05-14T16:40:35.155-07:00A Siesta Costs Mexico the Land of Texas<strong>S</strong>orry for the hiatus. I hope to post several new blogs over the next month.<br /><br /><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471268160328456082" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 140px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/S-3ZZ19IV5I/AAAAAAAAARw/RGt5h7Ux_bw/s320/002.jpg" border="0" /><br /><strong>T</strong>he resent oil spill tragedy in the Gulf reminded me of a trip I took to West Texas in May 2004 with my brother Jim. We visited the Guadalupe Mountains, Big Bend, and White Sands. On the way back home we stopped in Houston, Texas to visit the site of the Battle of San Jacinto. As we approached the site the smell of petroleum assaulted our noses. The battle site sits near massive fuel storage tanks and refineries on the low, flat, grassy Texas lowlands. This region of Texas has always been a major player in our country’s oil industry as well as many other industries since becoming a part of the United States. The Gulf spill is a tragedy and it remains to be seen how this will impact Texas and the other areas of the Gulf. The same could have been said of Texas itself. Before becoming a state, Texas existed as an independent republic. This “Lone Star” republic won its independence from Mexico. That independence was won in 1836 at the Battle of San Jacinto which sits very close to the Gulf shores of Texas. But no one then knew Texas would become a state and a key state at that. </p><p><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471268374739086514" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 210px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/S-3ZmUsm7LI/AAAAAAAAASA/xR3PqBT6HGM/s320/004.jpg" border="0" /><br /><strong>O</strong>ne of the heroes of winning Texas independence was John Coker. John Coker was originally from South Carolina. He had been born in 1789 in Laurens County, South Carolina and he moved to Texas in 1834 with his father to settle on lands in Stephen F. Austin’s colonies. He was a blacksmith and joined the Texas army in 1836.<br /><br /><strong>I</strong>n April 1836, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, conqueror of the Alamo, made a tactical mistake as he chased General Sam Houston’s army in hopes of battling it and destroying it. Santa Anna was far ahead of his supply lines and he wandered into the maze of waterways and bayous along the Texas coast. On April 21, 1836 the two armies stood close to each other near the site of San Jacinto. They both stood on a maze of lands cut by rivers and waterways. One of the nearest was Vince’s Bayou over which a bridge existed that both armies would have to use to retreat or reinforce. </p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471268275694503458" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 222px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/S-3ZgjuihiI/AAAAAAAAAR4/rmYHjJkvSjo/s320/003.jpg" border="0" />General Sam Houston</p><p><br /><strong>A</strong> comrade of John Coker’s, Young Perry Alsbury reported that Coker mused while on horseback looking out at the bridge over Vince’s Bayou, "Boys, before many hours we will have one of the damndest, bloodiest fights that ever was fought and I believe it would be a good plan to go and burn that bridge so as not only to impede the advance of reinforcements of the enemy, but it will cut off all chance of retreat of either party.” This remark was taken by his commander Deaf Smith to Houston. Houston agreed to send Smith and a 6 man team, including Coker, to destroy the bridge and cut off escape or reinforcements for both armies. Coker and his companions burned the bridge. </p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471268507418627682" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 244px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/S-3ZuC94DmI/AAAAAAAAASI/h6laHi82crU/s400/005.jpg" border="0" />Surrender of Santa Anna<br /><strong></strong></p><p><strong>M</strong>eanwhile, Santa Anna and his men retreated to their afternoon siesta, thinking that the battle that would occur here would take place at dawn during the following day. And Santa Anna failed to post sentries. This intelligence was taken back to Sam Houston. Houston’s generals, however, urged him to wait to attack the Mexicans the following day. But Houston would have none of it. When news of the destroyed bridge reached the Texas army, Houston led his men in a surprise charge forward against the unprepared Mexican troops. In 18 minutes the battle was over. The Mexican army had been routed to the shouts of “Remember Goliad” or “Remember the Alamo.” 700 Mexican soldiers had died and 730 were captured. This battle assured the independence of Texas. Only 9 Texas soldiers were killed. The next day, Santa Anna was captured and made to agree to a peace treaty and Texas became a Republic. A little siesta had cost Mexico the lands of Texas. </p><p><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471268056623025938" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 138px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/S-3ZTzn1DxI/AAAAAAAAARo/7tsypOa6w64/s320/001.jpg" border="0" /><br /><strong>J</strong>ohn Coker settled in Bexar County in 1841 and ended up founding the Coker community in San Antonio on lands granted him as a veteran. He died on January 4, 1861. Today the site of the battlefield has a monument and a museum worth the stop. The white tower monument rises high above the Texas low lands. The museum has a fascinating collection of documents and artifacts telling the story of Texas independence. It was an independence important to the history of the United States. You just have to get past the smell of oil on your visit.<br /><br />Andy Thomas<br /><br /><strong>Sources Used to Write This Blog:</strong><br /><br />Wikipedia articles on John Coker and the Battle of San Jacinto. See:<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Coker">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Coker</a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_San_Jacinto">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_San_Jacinto</a><br /><br />The Handbook of Texas Online articles on John Coker and the Battle of San Jacinto. See:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/CC/fcodz.html">http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/CC/fcodz.html</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/SS/qes4.html">http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/SS/qes4.html</a><br /></p>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-87204835857944664222010-01-13T13:51:00.000-08:002010-01-18T15:19:56.109-08:00South Carolina's First Frontier River Town<div></div><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/S05plCqAApI/AAAAAAAAARg/hNAfCzcMcpg/s1600-h/005.JPG"></a><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426390476134058594" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/S05pY0aIimI/AAAAAAAAARI/BdOpG2r_Sog/s400/008.JPG" border="0" /><br /><div><div><div><div><div><div><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"></span></span>n 1697 the South Carolina frontier was only a couple of miles outside the gates of the English settlement of Charles Town. In that year a group of Massachusetts Puritan settlers and missionaries led by the Reverend Joseph Lord founded the town of Dorchester on the banks of the Ashley River. It was more than 20 miles from Charles Town and helped to push back the Carolina frontier to the north and the west. The new town was laid out like a New England town with small lots that were distributed by a lottery system. A Puritan Congregational church was built and it was called the Old White Meeting House. The Puritans used the name of their old congregation in Massachusetts, Dorchester, to name their new town. Native Americans, who had established an overland trade path from the Middle and Upper Savannah River regions before these newcomers arrived, used the site, at the practical head of navigable waters on the Ashley River, as a jumping off point to make the river-bound trip to Charles Town. They called the site of the Dorchester settlement Boo-shoo-ee whose meaning is now lost to history.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he location of Dorchester on the frontier brought it both prosperity and hardship. Because of the commerce with Native Americans and plantation owners the river easily sustained the town for many decades. It became the hub for the early Indian trade. Native Americans and traders used the town to make transactions, usually by barter, and to move deerskins as well as themselves to and from the frontier and Charles Town. A wharf was built to accommodate canoes, and boats from the coast that brought in such products as rice and trade goods and shipped out such products as cane baskets and deerskins. A boat, known as a common boat and used for the Indian trade was used by the townspeople. This was a large canoe or periauger rowed by 7 or 8 slaves. It could carry as many as 500 to 700 deerskins to Charles Town. Later Fort Moore on the Savannah River, near current day North Augusta, and other towns that sprang up in the backcountry in the years that followed would drain away the deerskin trade, but for a long time Dorchester served as a main trade nexus and gateway to the Carolina frontier.</div><div><div><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426389756419594706" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 265px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/S05ou7Q1WdI/AAAAAAAAAQY/ORM2hu-WGyE/s400/Old+Dorchester+SP3+001.jpg" border="0" /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">R</span>ice cultivation also became an important means of enterprise in the 1730’s and 1740’s in Dorchester and surrounding areas. Because of this, indigo production, and the production of naval stores, more and more slaves came to live at Dorchester. In fact Africans outnumbered Europeans at least 3 to 1 by the 1750’s. These large numbers were hard to control and many slaves here ran off as evidenced by newspaper ads found in local colonial newspapers.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">B</span>y 1752 the New England Puritan settlers had been overrun by other settlers who were mostly Anglican. In addition, these settlers' and the newcomer’s needs for large tracts of land to grow both rice and indigo were limited by the small lot system in the town. Most of the Puritans left the area to establish another town in Georgia. Many others left, but the town continued to flourish for several more decades with traders, planters, artisans, and slaves. An English traveler described Dorchester in 1774 as “a pretty good sized town.”It was during this time of prosperity that a large Anglican church, known as St George Parish Church was built. The solid brick tower of that church remains today. </div><div><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426389867439967410" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 272px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/S05o1Y2JzLI/AAAAAAAAAQg/VEH7iIZBno0/s400/Old+Dorchester+SP1+001.jpg" border="0" /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">W</span>ith the danger of the French and Indian war, the British government built a powder magazine and a tabby wall fort to protect the magazine in Dorchester in 1757. The fort overlooked the river and was meant to stop either a French or Native American invasion force from using the Ashley River to attack Charles Town from behind. The remains of the fort are impressive and can still be seen today.<br /><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426390622228388002" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/S05phUpvGKI/AAAAAAAAARY/JwqJcNZwgko/s400/010.JPG" border="0" /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he Revolutionary War also created havoc for the town. The fort was turned into a military depot for the patriots. Fighters like Francis Marion operated from the fort and town throughout the war. Several skirmishes took place near the town. The British captured the fort for a while and occupied it until they were defeated and run out by Colonel Wade Hampton and General Nathanael Greene. Because of the devastation and turmoil of the war as well as the inexorable shift of the frontier to the north and west the town never recovered after the Revolutionary War. You can visit what remains today at Old Dorchester State Park to see reminders of what was South Carolina's first frontier river town.<br /><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426390549548584082" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/S05pdF5hTJI/AAAAAAAAARQ/j-bASHWbAbE/s400/009.JPG" border="0" /></div></div></div></div></div><br /><br /><p>Andy Thomas</p><p><strong>Sources used to write this blog:</strong></p><p><a href="http://www.knowitall.org/sandlapper/Winter-2005/Completed_PDFs/Dorchester.pdf">http://www.knowitall.org/sandlapper/Winter-2005/Completed_PDFs/Dorchester.pdf</a></p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.myschistory.com/dorchester-state-park.html">http://www.myschistory.com/dorchester-state-park.html</a></p><p></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Lord">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Lord</a></p><p></p>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-21371536695189698882010-01-10T07:34:00.000-08:002010-01-13T13:55:29.439-08:00Where is Lewis (& Clark) When You Need Them?<p></p><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span>t was getting dark and late and Karen and I were arguing on which way to go. We had been searching all that winter afternoon in December 2008 for roads that would take us to an elusive historical marker. We had already travelled our share of lonely two lane roads and winding dirt roads. Both of us had just about had enough. We came to a crossroads and argued on which way to go. In the end, we choose a direction that we later found out took us away from our desired destination. <p></p><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">W</span>e were trying to reach a historical marker that stood about a mile from the site of Captain John Marks home. The home’s site sat on a ridge overlooking Millstone Creek, a small rivulet that feeds the Broad River in Georgia. The site is difficult to get to but the marker is within a mile of its location. John Marks was a Revolutionary war veteran and the stepfather to Meriwether Lewis, the famous American explorer. He married Lewis’s mother Lucy in 1780 after her husband died of pneumonia the year before. In 1785-1787, when Lewis was eight or nine years old, he and his mother and siblings came south from Virginia traveling through North and South Carolina to go live with John Marks on the Georgia frontier. They migrated to a spot on the Broad River near today’s Elberton, Georgia in eastern Oglethorpe County. I had read about a marker and seen a picture of the marker (with this guys motorcycle parked in front of it) on an internet site and I had tried to contact the person who had posted it but was unsuccessful. He had given directions to the marker on the website, but they were unclear. That day, Karen and I set out to find it we stopped at a county gas station in the area and asked the guy behind the counter if he could help us find Goose Pond, which was near the place where the marker was erected. He hesitated and then told us that, “the roads are notoriously bad there.” He said he could not help us to find it even though he had lived in the area all his life. Little did I know what he meant by “bad.” Karen and I pressed on for a little while longer, but finally, Karen and I, made our fateful decision at the crossroads and, unsuccessful, we turned back toward Columbia, a two hour plus ride.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5425135406060633426" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/S0nz6ICjfVI/AAAAAAAAAQA/v-efrHvKpiE/s400/Goosepond+2.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">O</span>nce home, I decided to be "smart" and consult Map Quest on the Internet. On Map Quest the crossroads led in one direction toward Millstone Road which we had travelled and in the other direction, which unbeknown to us at the time, was Goose Pond Road. Today the area is called Goose Pond because there was a pond there where wild goose gathered in colonial times. The area had been ceded by the Creek and Cherokee Indians in 1773. General George Mathews of Augusta County, Virginia had petitioned the Georgia government for land there he had spied after serving in Georgia during the Revolution. He found the soil rich and he also saw many opportunities for making a living. He called for other Virginians to follow him south to Georgia. These Virginians established the prosperous community of Goose Pond for several decades after the Revolution. John Marks heard the call and decided to go south. The young Meriwether Lewis joined him and lived here for several years. Lewis learned to hunt and became an accomplished hunter here. A family friend said of him that, “He acquired in youth hardy habits and a firm construction. He possessed in the highest degree self-possession in danger.”According to Stephen Ambrose in <strong><em>Undaunted Courage</em></strong>, he learned to identify trees, bushes, shrubs, grasses, and various fishes, animals, birds, and insects. It was during this period that he became literate and started to read and write. But this rough, wild region did not have teachers who could give him the education he or his parents desired and so he was sent back to Virginia for that.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span> made a second attempt, alone, at finding Goose Pond in January 2009. It was a Saturday that the sky had decided to rain cats and dogs. I hit the road early and battled raindrops all the way to the crossroads. I was happy. I was convinced I was going to see the marker once I turned onto Goose Pond Road. How could I miss it? The paved road faded to muddy dirt. I followed this road for about a mile. The road seemed to get worse as the rain beat down on my Durango. Then, in front of me was the reason that the roads in Goose Pond were “notoriously bad”. In front of me a flood of rushing water had buried the road. It was white, frothy, and angry looking as brown water flowed over the road. Was this a washed out bridge? How deep was it? I considered trying to cross it but kept seeing images of those “brilliant” people who also tried to cross roads with rushing waters in front of them and remembered with a shiver how their vehicles always seemed to be whisked away by the powerful force of the rushing waters. I had to turn around and get back to the main road. Even that seemed tricky. And so, I carefully backed up and turned around the best I could avoiding the rapidly filling ditches on either side of me and once again made my way back to Columbia in a grey, pounding rain.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">M</span>eriwether Lewis went on to receive his education in Virginia. He returned to Georgia several times afterward but sometime near 1792, Captain Marks passed away and Lewis moved his mother and all of her children, slaves, animals, and possessions back to Virginia never to return again.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span> made one last attempt at finding the elusive marker. It was December 2009. Once again, I was on the dirt road. Karen was with me. It was sunny and dry. Where the waters had run the year before was a crude bridge crossing a rushing creek or steam. Was this Millstone Creek? Once again, we wandered for miles up this dirt road, known as Goose Pond Road, searching for the marker. Once again, like Brigadoon, the maker eluded us. Three strikes and you are out! Where is Lewis (& Clark) when you need them?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5425135660805034834" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/S0n0I9CWk1I/AAAAAAAAAQI/PcBeCFqBHq0/s400/004.JPG" border="0" /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">S</span>o, any lessons learned? Better planning? GPS? Better directions? All of those are true and need be applied but even more, what I really, learned on my trips to Goose Pond was how wild and untamed this country still is. Yes, there are roads. But in this small area of the South you can still see how it could challenge those who settled here. It was even wilder in Lewis’s day. He had a good laboratory to find out about what a frontier was all about. He learned to hunt. He learned to identify plants and animals. There is no doubt this formative time helped him in the challenges that the Lewis and Clark expedition posed. It sure gave me some real insight into his past. I really look forward to visiting, seeing, and blogging about more Lewis and Clark sites. I just hope they are not as hard to find as the elusive marker for John Marks site.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5425135806572893218" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/S0n0RcEHlCI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/zeVK95qjWKw/s400/005.JPG" border="0" /><br />Andy Thomas<br /><br /><strong>Sources used in writing this blog:<br /></strong><br /><strong><em>Undaunted Courage</em></strong> by Stephen E. Ambrose<br /><br />Article on Goose Pond in The New Georgia Encyclopedia: <a href="http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?path=/HistoryArchaeology/RevolutionaryEra/Places-4&id=h-2877">http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?path=/HistoryArchaeology/RevolutionaryEra/Places-4&id=h-2877</a><br /><br />Article on the John Marks site in Athens Banner-Herald: <a href="http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/070603/fea_20030706072.shtml">http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/070603/fea_20030706072.shtml</a>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-43316968207863731182009-08-04T11:36:00.000-07:002009-08-04T16:37:37.590-07:00The Battle of Horseshoe Bend: Hidden Gem in the Story of Saga of the American West<strong><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366247141340947842" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 268px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Sni9V-yVJYI/AAAAAAAAAPY/4lr5asR19Ak/s400/017.jpg" border="0" /></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span></strong>oday the approach to the site does not seem significant. It is tucked away in a typical rural, agricultural Southern landscape. There are scattered houses and trailers among the pines on a two lane black top Alabama road. A local fire station I passed was conducting a fund raiser barbeque when I visited the site back in the late 1990’s. The National Park was quite. It was a hot, sleepy summer afternoon. I think Karen and I were the only visitors at the time. The field of battle is just that - a field. It is not very impressive, and yet, this place was one of those places which continued the saga of the American West . The events here moved populations and changed fortunes. The events set Americans even more in motion and even more on a westward march.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he Red Sticks were a part of the Upper Creek nation in Alabama who had been inspired by the teachings of Tecumseh. This Shawnee prophet had travelled around to various native groups seeking Native American unity in order to stand up to the destructive forces of European culture and settlement. He preached the doctrine of maintaining traditional Native American ways and holding onto Native American lands. Both ideas resonated with many Native Americans but lacking any ally to achieve such goals against the technological and demographically superior numbers of European-Americans seemed impossible. That is, until the War of 1812 broke out. The British made overtures to Native Americans and offered hope in achieving Tecumseh’s program. The British talked about preserving Native American lands and holding off the tide of American expansion. Tecumseh was a staunch British ally and called for others to support his position against the Americans. A large part of the Upper Creek nation joined him and became known as the Red Sticks because of their red painted war clubs.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he Red Stick faction sought supplies and arms from the Spanish in Florida to fight for their own as well as British aims. Raids by American militia men to stop this alliance touched off the short lived Creek War of 1813-1814. In retaliation for a deadly raid against warriors returning with supplies and arms from Pensacola, Florida, the Creeks sweep down on Fort Mims near Mobile, Alabama. They killed many men as well as women and children who had sought safety in this American frontier fort. Over a hundred more were taken as hostages. These events shook the old Southwestern frontier. In response militia men from Tennessee, Georgia, and the Mississippi Territory launched an attack on the Red Sticks. The governor of Tennessee appointed South Carolina’s own backswoods man Andrew Jackson, who had moved to Tennessee as a young man, as commander of the West Tennessee militia and he was sent to deal with the threat. In the following months Jackson fought a hard winter campaign against the Red Sticks in the trackless woods of frontier Alabama.<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366247338267809538" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 289px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Sni9hcZWlwI/AAAAAAAAAPw/0y4hD0XD3Ao/s400/020.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">M</span>eanwhile, the Creeks gathered and readied their forces at a bend of the Tallapoosa River in east central Alabama. This bend formed a meandering horseshoe shaped peninsular with a slight rise running down the peninsular’s center. Over 1,350 Creek men, women, and children gathered here looking for protection and shelter. 1000 Red Stick warriors prepared to defend this site if attacked. When Jackson heard about it from his scouts he aggressively marched toward the site. 2,600 European Americans and another 600 friendly Native Americans (Choctaw, Cherokee, and even dissenting Creeks) made up Jackson’s force.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he Battle of Horseshoe Bend took place on March 27, 1814. Jackson started with an artillery barrage on the Red Sticks position which was on the rise behind a hastily constructed wooden breastworks made of logs and trees. The barrage was followed by a bayonet charge against the breastworks. Sam Houston, future governor of both Tennessee and Texas, as well as future president of the Lone Star Republic served as a third lieutenant under Andrew Jackson. He made the charge and was one of the first men to get over the barricade. In the process he received an arrow wound which would trouble him for the rest of his life. But he made it over and hundred more soon followed. The battle was fierce and lasted over five hours. Eventually Jackson’s men came to gain the field. 550 Red Sticks were killed on the field. Another 250 were killed trying to escape in the river. About 200 did escape over to the other side of the river and moved south to look for refuge with the Seminole Indians in Florida. Only about 50 of Jackson’s men had been killed.<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366247270647211314" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 279px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Sni9dgfWJTI/AAAAAAAAAPo/mruNrQkT04E/s400/019.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he victory was significant for a couple of reasons. In August, 1814 Jackson and chiefs from the Creek nation signed the Treaty of Fort Jackson. The Creeks ceded 23 million acres of land (half of the state of Alabama as well as significant parts of southern Georgia) to the United States government. This in turned opened these lands up to settlement as the Creeks were pushed further and further West and in their place came hordes of American settlers. These same scenes would be repeated on frontier after frontier in America as Native American were dispossessed and their lands became available for settlement. In Alabama and Georgia the population of 9,000 Americans in 1810 grew to 310,000 Americans in 1830. Many of these new settlers came from the South, including South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and older portions of Georgia. They moved from lands made unproductive by decades of cotton farming into new virgin lands just ripe for this crop. They brought cotton culture and slavery to this area of the new Southwest. What was left of the Creeks were first pushed into Western Arkansas and Tennessee and then were eventually moved even further west to Oklahoma during the period of Indian removal. Andrew Jackson initiated this mass movement of Native Americans including the infamous Cherokee Trail of Tears to make the lands on the east side of the Mississippi “safe” for white Americans and their slaves. Some of these men would latter follow the Creeks and other Native Americans even further West seeking new lands and new fortunes.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"></span><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366247910637272130" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 277px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Sni-Cwo3fEI/AAAAAAAAAP4/0ZZeFM6VufU/s400/018.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he other significance of the battle was the fame that Andrew Jackson received from this victory as well as his more famous victory in New Orleans. This fame would help to catapult him to the United States presidency in 1728. Jackson’s youth on the South Carolina frontier, and then later the Tennessee frontier, and beyond shaped his views of Native Americans and his policies of Indian removal. The old lands of the Southwest were swiftly transformed into the new lands of the South when the Creeks and other tribes were removed. Cotton and slavery made fortunes for those who settled them. Because of the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Alabama and southern Georgia were reshaped into the image of the older coastal South. This set the stage for future transformations in the lands to the West of this as settlers continued to push further and further in that direction. Today the battlefield of Horseshoe Bend looks like a big grass field. The secret of its significance to American, Southern, and Western history, however, is currently in the commonplace of its familiar Southern countryside. This landscape was set in place by the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. The “new world” created by this battle led eventually to the further expansion and settlement of newly opened lands West of the bend in the Tallapoosa River. Southern history blended into Western history. That’s the secret of this big field of grass.<br /><br />Andy Thomas<br /><br /><strong>Sources Used to Write This Blog:<br /><br /></strong><br /><em>The Battle of Horseshoe Bend: Collision of Cultures</em>, by Virginia Horak, Teaching with Historic Places: the National Park Service at: <a href="http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/54horseshoe/54about.htm">http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/54horseshoe/54about.htm</a><br /><br /><em>Battle of Horseshoe Bend</em>, by Ove Jensen, Encyclopedia of Alabama at: <a href="http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1044">http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1044</a><br /><br /><em>Battle of Horseshoe Bend</em> on U-S-History.com at: <a href="http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1128.html">http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1128.html</a><br /><br /><em>Battle of Horseshoe Bend (1814)</em> on Wikipedia at: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Horseshoe_Bend">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Horseshoe_Bend</a>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-54886219246083592072009-07-07T13:06:00.000-07:002009-07-07T17:03:46.837-07:00The Original Maverick<div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SlOyEvzpybI/AAAAAAAAAOw/jS2RAVulyiI/s1600-h/mavericksam.jpg"><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355820176495987122" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 275px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SlOyEvzpybI/AAAAAAAAAOw/jS2RAVulyiI/s400/mavericksam.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>Sam Maverick. </strong></span></div><div align="center"><a href="http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/images/mavericksam.jpg">http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/images/mavericksam.jpg</a></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;">S</span>am Maverick was the original “maverick.” His name would come to embrace the name of a Texas county, unbranded cattle, and free-thinking individuals. He would help in the creation of the Texas Republic, its annexation by the United States, and would become one of the largest land owners in Texas in the 1850’s and 1860’s. Maverick was born in 1803, the year that the Lewis and Clark expedition set out from St. Louis to find an all-water route to the Pacific. His birthplace was in Pendleton, South Carolina in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains near today’s Clemson University. His father was a successful land speculator acquiring lands in South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. Sam spent his early years growing up in Charleston and Pendleton. In 1822 he enrolled in college at Yale. He graduated four years later in 1825 and moved back to Pendleton to help his father in the family business. </div><div align="left"><br /></div><div align="left"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355864192784161698" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 187px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SlPaG1QiW6I/AAAAAAAAAPA/-vAG3je4W-0/s400/Pendelton,+SC+001.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">H</span>e was very good at handling land deals and sometime after he began to help his father he decided to become a lawyer. He moved to Virginia for several years as he pursued a law degree. He returned to South Carolina in 1829 and became a lawyer. He ran for office in the South Carolina legislature in 1830 but was soundly defeated because of his anti-secession and anti-nullification views. He certainly was a lone wolf in trying to convince his constituents that South Carolina was better off in the Union. Because of his political views and his desire to acquire a land empire like his father had done, he left South Carolina in 1833. After living briefly in Georgia and Alabama he set off for the far western frontier and arrived in San Antonio, Texas in September 1835.<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355823524827961458" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 395px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SlO1HpUNGHI/AAAAAAAAAO4/uZR3NcPSDn4/s400/Come_And_Take_It_Mural.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>Detail of a mural in the museum at Gonzales, Texas. Photograph by J. Williams (Jul. 6, 2003).</strong></span><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;">S</span>am Maverick arrived with lots of other Americans just as the Texas Revolution was heating up. Because of the number of Americans arriving in this important city and the rumors of Rebels outside, the Mexican authorities cracked down and placed many, including Maverick, under house arrest. Mexican military forces began to concentrate in the city. Outside of San Antonio de Bexar, Texas volunteers began to gather under Stephen F. Austin. Shortly afterwards, San Antonio was put under siege by this rebel Texas army. During his months in captivity, Sam was able to study the layout and defenses of the Mexican forces from his house prison. In December 1835, the city under siege, Maverick was released along with other Americans with the promise they would not participate in the fighting and would go straight back to America. Sam, however, had other ideas. He went to the Texas volunteers’ camp and reported all that he had seen. Impressed with his knowledge he was picked to command a force to take the city. The Texas forces were successful and were able to take the city of San Antonio, including the mission of the Alamo in December 1835. This set the scene for the Battle of the Alamo in March, 1836. Many of the men who had wrested the city from Mexican control would face a larger Mexican force attempting to reassert control.</div></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong></strong></span></div><div align="center"><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355864369660011890" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 166px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SlPaRILBpXI/AAAAAAAAAPI/FNfXLQ9YMSI/s400/Washington+on+the+Brazos+001.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">S</span>am Maverick was so well liked and had helped so much in the taking of San Antonio that he was elected as one of two delegates by the Alamo garrison to attend the Texas Independence Convention at Washington on the Brazos on March 1, 1836. Later, he would write that attending the convention saved his life. It was during this time that the siege of the Alamo took place and he speculated that he would have been with the defenders if he had not gone to Washington on the Brazos to meet about Texas Independence. At Washington on the Brazos, Maverick signed the Texas Independence document, one of 4 South Carolinians to do so. Soon afterwards he heard of the fate of the men defending the Alamo. He then rode back to South Carolina to assure his family that he was alive and well, fearing the mail would not outrace the news of the Alamo massacre. He also had some business to take care of for his father. On his way through Alabama he met, fell and love, and then married Mary Ann Adams. The couple returned to San Antonio and set up a home in 1838. Here Maverick became a lawyer and began to once again turn to land speculation. He also began to serve in the Texas legislature. He argued strongly that Texas should become an American state and was instrumental in making that occur. Afterwards he would serve in the state legislature from 1851-63. He also served two terms as the mayor of San Antonio. He began to acquire thousands of acres of land during this time. In the 1850’s and 1860’s he was one of biggest land barons in the state of Texas. By his death in 1870, he owned more than 300,000 acres of land. Most of his holdings were in West Texas. Maverick County in West Texas is today named in honor of him.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355864546447395746" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 283px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SlPabawbC6I/AAAAAAAAAPQ/lcWm9KFB31E/s400/Washington+on+Brazos+2+001.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">"The Reading of the Texas Declaration of Independence" Charles and Fanny Norman, Star of the Republic Museum, Washington, Texas</span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span>t was during this time that the term “maverick” came into use. Sam had accepted some cattle in payment for debts. He was not really a rancher but he ran these cattle on his lands. He let the cattle roam free on the open grasslands where most were unbranded until others branded them. It wasn’t long before Cowboys and others began referring to any stray, unbranded cows as mavericks. In addition, his friends used the term to refer to his independent, free-thinking stance. This mantle came to be used on others who seemed to have Sam Maverick’s traits which included reluctance to go along with the crowd, a stance of dissent from the dictates of larger group or causes, and a passionate sense of independence.<br /><br /></p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355819855800104530" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 120px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SlOxyFHy9lI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/rNgsgAfHcbg/s400/maverick_cow.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;"></span><span style="font-size:180%;">M</span>averick, being maverick, opposed succession but seeing that he was once again outnumbered, he relented and supported the Confederate cause. During the war he served on the Texas Succession Convention and as the Chief Justice of Bexar County. After the Civil War he was pardoned and worked against the radical Republican regime of Reconstruction. His health began to decline during these years and he passed away in 1870 after a brief illness. The term maverick has a real connection to the American West and frontier and the people who lived there. Sam Maverick stands tall as an enduring symbol of freedom, independence, and fearless belief in standing for what one believes in.<br /><br /></p>Andy Thomas<br /><br /><strong>Sources used to write this blog:<br /></strong>Marks, Paula Mitchell. “Samuel Augustus Maverick.” The Handbook of Texas Online. August 23, 2007: <a href="http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/MM/fma84.html">http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/MM/fma84.html</a><br /><br /><br />Andrew Gill: “Bexar County Judge Samuel Augustus Maverick.”<br /><a href="http://www.bexar.org/commct/cmpct4/History/Elected_Officials/Past_County_Judges">http://www.bexar.org/commct/cmpct4/History/Elected_Officials/Past_County_Judges</a><br />/Samuel_A__Maverick/samuel_a._maverick.htmAndyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-79046286043333584312009-06-18T10:47:00.000-07:002009-06-22T18:57:30.169-07:00Juan Pardo & the Road to Mexico (Part 3)<strong>This is part 3 of a 3 part blog on the Juan Pardo expeditions. Scroll down to see parts 1 and 2.</strong><br /><br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350309846081741186" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 147px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 292px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SkAedTX6IYI/AAAAAAAAAM4/unspnjcxZ2c/s400/Picture1.png" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">C</span>onquistador and scribe Francisco Martinez recorded the start of the 1566 expedition. <em>“From the city of Santa Elena Captain Juan Pardo started on the first day of November in the year 1566, to penetrate into the interior to make it known and conquer it from here to Mexico . . .”</em> The day that Martinez recorded as the start of the expedition was a month too early. The day Juan Pardo and his 150 conquistadors and unknown numbers of Native American porters set off from Fort San Felipe on Parris Island was on or near St. Andrews Day which is usually celebrated on the Sunday nearest November 30th. Martinez certainly meant December 1, 1566 when he recorded the first day of November.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350310012779905618" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 323px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SkAenAX2QlI/AAAAAAAAANA/tW2-KuCsQM0/s400/Picture2.png" border="0" /> <span style="font-size:180%;">N</span>onetheless, 150 Spanish trekked into the Carolina wilderness. A 1578 report from Santa Elena indicates that ordinary soldiers in La Florida carried not only swords, daggers, and crossbows but early guns known as harquebuses with powder flasks and bullets. They wore quilted linen tunics known as escaupiles. These garments only marginally protected soldiers from arrows. The main reason they were chosen was because they were not as bulky or as uncomfortable to wear in hot weather as Spanish armor. No doubt, the men on Pardo’s expeditions were fitted in these garments and carried with them various armaments. In addition to extra boots and shoes, Pardo’s men also took along fiber sandals for comfort and practicality. Accompanying the Spaniards were large war dogs. These dogs had been trained to attack humans and were meant to be an intimidating presence to Native Americans who encountered them. Trade goods including beads, textiles, and axes were also carried along by the expedition. Although little could be spared, Pardo’s men carried small provisions of wine, cheese, and biscuits from Fort San Felipe’s dwindling stores.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350310205976207890" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 398px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SkAeyQFb4hI/AAAAAAAAANI/jMtYnaTFkdQ/s400/Picture3.png" border="0" /> Map from Walter Edgar's South Carolina: A History</div><div> </div><div><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span>t must have been an odd site to the Native Americans as the Spaniards made their way from the coast in the bright sunshine and cool air of the winter of 1566. Loud and colorful with the red on white flags of the Burgundy Cross before them and their drums beating, they entered the unmapped frontier. On the second expedition in 1567 the scribe Bandera is told by Pardo that there is nothing to record of the villages forty leagues from Santa Elena because <em>"the land is rough and full of swamps and Indians already subject and obedient"</em> to the Spanish. However, we can follow the 1569 Bandera chronicle by the same scribe, whose notes from the 1566 expedition were reworked into a chronicle several years after this march, for the trip northward from Santa Elena. Their first stop, based on the assumption that Pardo followed the same trail on both his first and second expeditions (and we have no reason to think he did not) was the village of Uscamacu. Uscamacu sat on an island surrounded by rivers. It was <em>“a sandy place of very good clay for cooking pots and tiles and other things that might be necessary.”</em> Historian Charles Hudson who has extensively studied the routes of the Pardo expeditions believes that this village may have been located at the northern tip of St. Helena Island.<br /><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350310718689735058" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 274px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SkAfQGF3cZI/AAAAAAAAANQ/t3TNYA2HzUI/s400/Picture4.png" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he march continued from here. Pardo proceeded north by northwest following a Native American trail near the Coosawhatchie River. He went in this direction rather than west toward New Spain because native guides probably told Pardo he could find sizable villages and supplies of food for his men. The next stop was the village of Ahoya. On his second expedition in 1567, Pardo would make an auto de fe or a Spanish act of faith in Ahoya. This was possibly a religious speech to the natives. It was noted that Ahoya was an island surrounded by rivers and suitable corn, grapes, and stocks. This village was probably located near Pocataligo or Yemassee. Next, Pardo’s men came upon a small village subject to Ahoya named Ahoyabe. It is placed by Hudson near today’s Cummings or even further north near Hampton. The trail now closely followed the black, oily flow of the Coosawhatchie River.<br /><br /><div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350319555739685122" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 285px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SkAnSeqwkQI/AAAAAAAAAOA/jKfKFg7zXP0/s400/032.JPG" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">S</span>ince leaving the coast Pardo’s party had encountered only small villages and few natives. But the next village encountered was Cozoa. This village was close to the headwaters of the Coosawhatchie River and was probably near Brunson or Fairfax. Cozoa is also probably the namesake for the Coosawhatchie River. Here the waters of the river become more palatable as they flowed swiftly over the Aiken Plateau. It was also here that small pebbles were first encountered instead of the more sandy ground of the South Carolina coastal plain. The chief of this large village had much land. There were many plots of land, <em>“where can be cultivated corn, wheat, barley, vineyards, fruit orchards” by “the rivers and sweet water brooks.” It was a “land good for everything.”</em> Pardo continued to follow the Coosawhatchie River to its headwaters and then he turned northeast. On the way he encountered a tributary town of Cozao that was unnamed. This town was probably on the Little Salkehatchie River near today’s Ulmers in Allendale County. At a point nearly forty leagues from Santa Elena, the Spanish scribe Guiomez would write that, <em>“The road that he followed, was somewhat difficult, but land that can be cultimvated the same as Cozao and even better. There are some large and shallow swamps but this is caused by the flatness of the land.” </em><br /><div><em><br /></div></em><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350310836767852850" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 260px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SkAfW994iTI/AAAAAAAAANY/H6uSHIGWFfg/s400/Picture5.jpg" border="0" /> Painting from National Geographic, March 1988<br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;">E</span>ventually Pardo continued to march east and then turned north and west. He would in time make his way to the foot of the Appalachian Mountains. Along the way, following his orders for establishing the road to New Spain, he hastily built some forts and left small garrisons of men in each. At this point he received orders from Santa Elena to return immediately to help defend Fort San Felipe against the French. French corsairs had been sighted off the coast. So he retraced his route and in four months time he was right back where he had started on March 7, 1567. The French threat never materialized. Martinez, the Spanish soldier who recorded the first expedition wrote of the lands that he encountered that, <em>“It is good in itself for bread and wine and all kinds of cattle raising because it is flat country with many rivers of fresh water and many groves where there are nuts and blackberries and medlars (persimmons) and liquid amber and many other kinds of groves. It is also a land for much hunting not only deer but hare and rabbit and birds and bear and lions (panthers).” </em><br /><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350324843310979778" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 275px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 208px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SkAsGQZ_msI/AAAAAAAAAOI/cuJkRCa3Uvk/s400/gbearbehindtree.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">P</span>ardo, known as the <em>“valiant Captain from Asturias”</em> set out with 120 men on his second expedition on September 1, 1567. He was to resupply and relieve the garrisons in the backcountry, and continue his quest for a path to New Spain. He followed the same path into the interior and then back as the first expedition. This time Pardo was ordered to have each chief he encountered to swear obedience to the Spanish king Phillip II and to Menendez in the presence of a notary and to agree to play tribute to the Spanish. Each major town had to build a storehouse to be stocked with maize, salt, and deer meat to supply the Spaniards on the coast. He distributed presents to Native American leaders along the way hoping to further bring them into amity with the Spaniards.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350311179937756178" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 244px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SkAfq8X9tBI/AAAAAAAAANo/HbTe8GX0wO8/s400/Picture7.png" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">P</span>ardo supplied the small forts in the backcountry. The forts are never mentioned again. They probably became the casualty of attacks by Native Americans who destroyed them sometime very soon after Pardo’s last foray into this region. Pardo began to realize that the distance to New Spain was considerably more than anyone until that time had imagined. Realizing this, Pardo then began his trek home collecting as much foodstuffs as he could. He and his men foreswore corn and meat for other exotic Native American foods. They saved the corn for the men at Santa Elena and sent it ahead of them as they retraced their path to the coast. They ate deer meat, acorns, and roots supplied to them by the Indians. The Native Americans ate wild roots call batatas by the Spanish. It is known today as the American Groundnut and it is distinct but very similar to today’s sweet potatoes. At the large village of Cozoa, in accordance to Spanish wishes, the Native Americans had built a corncrib on posts high above the ground to protect it from pests and other animals. Pardo arrived there on February 16th and picked up 60 additional bushels of corn that were loaded into baskets and deerskins to be toted to the coast. Pardo and his men arrived back in Santa Elena on March 2, 1568. Only one man was lost in the two daring expeditions. The forts in the backcountry would disappear but it seems that Pardo’s leadership in unknown territory on the march was focused on the care of his men. To have only lost one man on these marches into unknown territory was a great achievement for this leader.<br /><div><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350311276076025490" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 254px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SkAfwihHRpI/AAAAAAAAANw/q_L-kcPAWao/s400/Picture8.jpg" border="0" /> Painting from National Geographic, March 1988</div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-size:180%;">P</span>ardo returned to soldiering in the settlement of Santa Elena. In its heyday Santa Elena was a small farming community larger than St. Augustine. Corn, wheat, oats, pumpkins, chickpeans, beans, sugarcane and peaches were finally cultivated there with better agricultural practices. Cows, horses, pigs, sheep, and goats were raised. In 1576, however, Fort San Felipe was attacked by angry Native Americans and burned. It seems they had enough of Spanish conquistadors lording it over them. Although a subsequent fort was build, relations continued to be shaky with the Native Americans and the growth of the Spanish enclave at St. Augustine led Menendez and the Spanish to abandon Santa Elena in August 1587. The Spanish claims to the region would remain however until the 1670 settlement of the Carolina colony in a place that would become known as Charles Town. After that the frontier would tip into the hands of the English and for many the Spanish age would be forgotten.<br /><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350316102476251298" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 284px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SkAkJeQmQKI/AAAAAAAAAN4/IsPRrCcmpLw/s400/2869740714_21e8e23506.jpg" border="0" /> <span style="font-size:180%;">J</span>uan Pardo’s two expeditions had failed to forge a route to Mexico. However, these expeditions had accomplished many other things. They expanded the geographical knowledge of Europeans about North America. They also, through oaths, trade goods, and intimidation of the Native Americans solidified Spain’s claims to this region for many years to come. They relieved immediate pressure of starvation for the settlement at Santa Elena and established friendly relations with some Native Americans who lived in the interior. They also left for us a tantalizing, if incomplete record about the Native Americans and Spanish explorers interacting in the area that would one day be known as South Carolina.<br /><br /><div>Andy Thomas</div><br /><br /><div><strong>Works I consulted to write this blog:</strong><br /><br />Charles Hudson: <strong><em>The Juan Pardo Expeditions: Exploration of the Carolinas and Tennessee, 1566-1568</em></strong><br /><br />Rowland, Moore, and Rogers: <strong><em>The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina: 1514-1861</em></strong><br /><br />Lawrence S. Rowland: <strong><em>Window on the Atlantic: The Rise and Fall of Santa Elena, South Carolina's Spanish City</em></strong></div><br /><br /><div>Walter Edgar: <strong><em>South Carolina: A History</em></strong><br /></div><br /><div>DePratter, Hudson, and Smith: <strong><em>Juan Pardo's Explorations in the Interior Southeast,1566-1568. The Florida Historical Quarterly 62:125-158, 1983</em></strong></div><br /><br /><div>Paul Hoffman: <strong><em>A New Andalucia and a Way to the Orient: The American Southeast During the Sixteenth Century<br /></em></strong></div></div>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-70180720148222665332009-06-18T10:45:00.000-07:002009-06-21T14:38:57.655-07:00Juan Pardo & the Road to Mexico (Part 2)<strong>This is part 2 of a 3 part blog on the Juan Pardo Expeditions. (Scroll down to see part 1)</strong><br /><div><div><div><div><div><div><br /><div><strong></strong></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349052664724381714" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 201px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SjunDt3A4BI/AAAAAAAAALw/ogFr5CflZRU/s400/obj129geo108pg11p8.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span>n the summer of 1566 two Spanish men of war, the San Salvadore and the Zebeita, dropped their anchors in Port Royal Sound. Captain Juan Pardo and two hundred and fifty soldiers and another fifty hopeful settlers were on board these vessels. They disembarked on a small sub tropical island known today as Parris Island. This island had overarching live oaks grown thick with gray moss, exotic palmetto trees, and expansive saltwater marshes. Animals such as the white-tailed deer, the opossum, the raccoon, and the alligator roamed the island and the surrounding mainland. Native American peoples lived in the dark, mysterious forests on the horizon. An earthen fort had been built on the island’s southern end overlooking the usually untroubled waters of the great sound. This fort was surrounded by a rough wooden palisade of stakes and defended by several small bronze cannons. The Spanish had named this bastion Fort San Felipe. Twenty-seven hardened soldiers who awaited a suspected counterattack of French corsairs manned the fort. They were all that remained of Menendez’s original complement of one hundred and ten men that he had sent to build and maintain this outpost. Munity and numerous desertions had taken their toll. These twenty seven men had, no doubt, fought off heat, humidity, mosquitoes, and starvation. The new arrivals were welcomed along with their food and other needed supplies. They had been sent north by Menendez from his newly established settlement at St. Augustine. Fears over inadequate provisions at St. Augustine and freshly arrived soldiers and settlers from Spain prompted Menendez to disperse his forces. In addition, the need to reinforce the fledgling outpost at Santa Elena had necessitated this move. Menendez had imperial dreams for Santa Elena.<br /><br /></div><div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349054154346313538" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 294px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SjuoabIjt0I/AAAAAAAAAMo/HY9XOgSKttk/s400/getimage.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">F</span>ood shortages continued to plague those early Spanish colonizers. The men first deployed at Santa Elena had failed to produce sufficient crops for the outpost in the low, sandy soil that surrounded the fort. Tidal inundations and wild animals had further diminished these crops. Resupply by Spanish ships sailing along the coast was haphazard and inadequate to meet the need. Short of their own supplies they had relied on trade and benevolence of neighboring Native Americans for their food. By the fall of 1566 this situation had once again grown serious as the provisions brought by the new arrivals that summer were quickly consumed. In order to relieve this problem and for other personal and nationalistic reasons Menendez, who arrived at Santa Elena that fall, decided to dispatch Captain Juan Pardo and a large force of his soldiers to the interior. These conquistadors were to obtain food on the march. In addition to feeding themselves, they were instructed to gather and send provisions to Fort San Felipe. Presumably they would do both by hunting, gathering, and forging in New World forests and trading, soliciting oaths of loyalty, and intimidating Native Americans they encountered on their march. These oaths of loyalty to Phillip II and Menendez were to be cemented by token gifts given to Native American leaders on the Spanish side and large supplies of food given to the Spanish on the Native American side. The Spanish still subscribed to the hierarchal and reciprocal system of feudalism that had dominated the Middle Ages in Spain and Europe and they hoped to use it to their advantage in dealing with Native Americans in the New World. </div><div><br /></div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349053208013864018" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 362px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SjunjVxUfFI/AAAAAAAAAMg/_5ahqGAPU48/s400/Picture5.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he practical necessity for such an expedition was heightened by Menendez’s sense of duty and his own political and economic ambitions. Santa Elena was to provide not only protection for the Spanish treasure fleets but was to be a base for future Spanish settlement and expansion in North America. Menendez had declared Santa Elena as the capitol of the province of La Florida in August 1566. He expected this outpost to grow considerably in the years to follow because of what he perceived as its strategic and economic position. Menendez, like other Spanish conquistadors, dreamed of New World riches and empires. He instructed Captain Pardo as he went along to keep an eye out for gold, silver, and other sources of mineral wealth that he may encounter. But more importantly, he instructed Pardo to establish an overland route to New Spain (Mexico). </div><div><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349052826689456082" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 377px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SjunNJOfx9I/AAAAAAAAAL4/6dL4TuInCp0/s400/Picture6.jpg" border="0" /> <span style="font-size:180%;">M</span>ule caravans burdened with silver from the rich Zacatecas and San Martin mines in central New Spain plodded many dusty miles overland to the port of Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico. Here, the newly mined bars of silver were loaded on galleons that sailed north to Cuba and then onward to Spain. Menendez and other high ranking Spaniards believed this was a drawn out process and that it could be shortened and made safer. The mule caravans could be driven to Santa Elena to meet the treasure galleons. The galleons would then miss many of the deadly seasonal hurricanes in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, entirely bypass the haunts of numerous pirates, and be reasonably secured from the attacks of other countries whose navies lurked in the Caribbean. Menendez hoped that the settlement at Santa Elena would become rich and powerful controlling the outward flow of New World Spanish silver. </div><br /><br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349059184311395042" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 291px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Sjus_NNr4uI/AAAAAAAAAMw/HqIogikK6Uo/s400/Picture4.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">C</span>aptain Pardo’s orders included establishing forts along the way to New Spain and using them to keep this new overland route open. Trade goods, oaths of loyalty, and intimidation were to be employed to secure future provisions for the fort at Santa Elena and any Spanish soldiers who may be posted along the new route. Menendez ordered Pardo, “to see that they (Native Americans) became subject to His Holiness and His Majesty.” Pardo’s expeditions were to lay claim to a vast interior colony in the name of the kingdom of Spain, for the care of the Catholic Church, and for the honor and glory of his supporter: Menendez. Of course, Europeans at this time did not have a firm grasp of geographical knowledge about the North American continent and did not know how far it was to New Spain. Menendez thought New Spain was only 790 to 910 miles away. He expected that Pardo would make a trip there and back in only six months. Both Pardo expeditions discovered that the geographic reality was many more hundreds of miles away. In light of that, the expeditions led by Pardo, traveled no further west than the gentle, blue ridges of the southern Appalachian Mountains. </div><br /><div>Andy Thomas<br /><br /><div><strong>Bibliographic references of works used to prepare this blog will be presented in the last part of this blog.</strong></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-23553144787793545892009-06-18T10:43:00.000-07:002009-06-21T14:42:56.294-07:00Juan Pardo & the Road to Mexico (Part 1)<strong>This is part 1 of a 3 part blog on the Juan Pardo Expeditions.</strong><br /><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348744278418704962" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 272px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SjqOlRWMykI/AAAAAAAAALg/ORgZe83QK88/s400/Chiaves-la-florida-1584.jpg" border="0" /> <span style="font-size:180%;">I</span>n 1569, writing several years after the fact, the Spaniard Joan de la Vandera recorded the names of Native American villages and the potential bounty of agricultural lands he had encountered on Juan Pardo’s expeditions through what is today known as South Carolina’s Low Country. In his travels through the area that is Allendale and Hampton counties he would later note places like the village of Ahoya. Here, he wrote that, <em>“land suitable for corn and also many grape stocks and many shoots”</em> was found. At the larger village of Cozao he wrote that the land was suitable to cultivate, <em>“corn, wheat, barley, vineyards, and all kinds of fruit and orchards, because there are rivers and sweet water brooks and land good for everything.”</em><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348742505127890018" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SjqM-DUuTGI/AAAAAAAAALY/r6HK1R8EenA/s400/dsreen21.jpg" border="0" /> <span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he two Spanish expeditions led by Juan Pardo between 1566-67 and 1567-68 explored, documented, and reaffirmed Spain’s claims to this <em>“land good for everything.”</em> Not as large or as celebrated as the earlier Hernando De Soto expedition, Pardo’s expeditions succeeded in the practical but failed in the visionary. Beyond that, Pardo’s marches helped the Spanish to fill in missing geographical knowledge about the North American continent and solidified their claims to the region they called <em>La Florida</em>. The Vandera document and others kept about the expeditions provide some of the earliest accounts of the New World. They give us a colorful snapshot of what South Carolina was like during the European exploration and discovery period, how Native Americans lived, and how the first Europeans perceived the land and interacted with the natives. They also remind us about the area’s rich and diverse history. English settlers are usually associated with the early history of the region. However, the more ancient Native American and Spanish claims to this area were to remain in place until the English, with the founding of the Carolina colony in 1670, usurped them. Essentially, the area encompassing today’s present South Carolina, for a period of about one hundred and fifty years, was claimed as part of the kingdom of Spain.<br /><div></div><br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348745183709725682" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 284px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 201px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SjqPZ90Zg_I/AAAAAAAAALo/0yGHx7EV2Y0/s400/spanish-ships-of-hernando-cortes-sailing-to-mexico-c-1519.jpg" border="0" /></div><span style="font-size:180%;">B</span>eginning in the 1520’s the Spanish attempted to explore, establish outposts, and settle lands that had primarily been scouted from the masthead of Spanish ships as they made their way along the south Atlantic American coast. This region of discovery, which presently encompassed the state of Florida and much of today’s Southeast was eventually named <em>La Florida</em> by Ponce de Leon during his ill-fated attempt to found a settlement there in 1521. A prominent headland was later spotted along this coast during a reconnoitering expedition in 1525. This headland was north of Ponce de Leon’s landfall and it became a mariner’s landmark known as <em>La Punta de Santa Elena </em>(The Point of Santa Elena) because its discovery was made on the feast day of Saint Helena: May 18th. The landmark, whose identification is not clear today, was probably Tybee Island that sits at the mouth of the Savannah River. <em>La Punta de Santa Elena</em> provided a geographical reference point for early European explorers and led to the subsequent discovery of the large, majestic sound to the north of it that is today known by its French name as Port Royal Sound. This sound is the deepest and most attractive anchorage along the south Atlantic coast. During the 1500’s and 1600’s the Spanish called the sound and surrounding lands Santa Elena after the nearby headland.<br /></div><div><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348741047465151794" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 329px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 270px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SjqLpNG2DTI/AAAAAAAAAKw/ssZPw0IIpC0/s400/soundboats.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">S</span>anta Elena acquired strategic importance as the rivalry between the Spanish and the French grew to encompass the New World. The Spanish had grown wealthy on their exploitation of the Americas. Spanish treasure galleons loaded with gold and silver from Mexico and Peru gathered together in great fleets and sailed north from the Caribbean to catch the trade winds off the south Atlantic coast. These winds, acquired somewhere between Jacksonville, Florida and Wilmington, North Carolina, provided a quick and sure route back to Spain. Therefore, alarms were raised in 1563 when news arrived at the Spanish court that Protestant French Huguenots led by Jean Ribaut had built a small fort on an island in Port Royal Sound. Although this outpost proved a failure and was abandoned and burned within several months time, the French then moved south to build another fort on the Saint Mary’s River near present-day Jacksonville, Florida. This occupation of lands claimed by Spain in an area sensitive to Spanish interests set in motion a plan to protect and settle <em>La Florida</em>. It was hoped this would prevent unwelcome enemy fortifications there and discourage pirates and marauders who could use these coasts as basses to harass and pillage the Spanish treasure fleets. In addition, Protestant settlers in the New World who might recruit Native American allies were anathema to Catholic Spain in an age of religious strife. Immediate plans were made to eliminate this serious threat to Spanish economic security and to uphold the interests of the Catholic Church. </div><div><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348740344654563698" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SjqLAS7viXI/AAAAAAAAAKY/oY7s3OSeXMk/s400/3c02263.jpg" border="0" /> <span style="font-size:180%;">P</span>edro Menendez de Aviles was the man chosen by the Spanish monarch, Phillip II, to evict the French and lay a more strenuous claim to these lands. Menendez was a nobleman, a veteran sea captain, and a bit of a pirate. He had fought French corsairs in the Mediterranean and escorted treasure caravans home as captain-general of the Indies fleet. He was also a privateer who plundered French vessels that sailed along the coast of his native Asturias in northern Spain. Phillip II, however, entrusted the rakish Menendez with the settlement and security of <em>La Florida</em>. Menendez, although expected to bare an equal share of cost for colonization, readily accepted this honor. He believed it to be a lucrative opportunity. He had lost his son and a fortune in riches to an Atlantic hurricane in 1563. The king offered him a means to recoup his loses, search for his son, serve his king, country, and church against the Protestant French invaders, and fulfill his own imperial ambitions. Menendez quickly moved to murderously evict the French from the coast of <em>La Florida</em>. This act was to carry the violence of the Reformation in Europe to the New World. Menendez cruelly slaughtered the French Huguenots that he found along the La Florida coast without remorse and as a warming to other European interlopers. He established a fort and settlement nearby at present day St. Augustine and then erected a small fort on or near the abandoned ruins of the French fort in Port Royal Sound. Over one hundred and ten Spanish soldiers and settlers were sent to build and man this lonely island outpost at Santa Elena. It was at Santa Elena, on the Atlantic edge of the North American continent where Menendez decided to focus his efforts, both public and private. And it was at Santa Elena that the Juan Pardo expeditions were born out of necessity, duty, and Menendez’s ambition. <br /><br />Andy Thomas<br /><br /><div><strong>Bibliographic references of works used to prepare this blog will be presented in the last part of this blog..</strong></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-42657725123354347822009-05-29T17:32:00.000-07:002009-06-05T05:46:18.410-07:00Aaron Burr’s Dreams of Western Empire<span style="font-size:180%;">A</span>aron Burr was a revolutionary hero, New York politician, and western adventurer. He had many political connections in New York and served terms as the states’ Attorney General and as a Senator. He ran for the presidency of the United States in 1800 as a Democratic-Republican. He tied Thomas Jefferson in electoral votes but lost to him when the vote fell to the United States House of Representatives. He served as Jefferson’s Vice President from 1801-1805. After his famous duel in which he killed Alexander Hamilton, Burr began to formulate plans about the West, including Mexico, and perhaps the new lands of the Louisiana Purchase.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342422464957870594" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 225px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SiQY7S_hcgI/AAAAAAAAAKA/W6ZgKbVZwEM/s400/225px-Aaron_Burr-2.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">B</span>urr was an outsider to the Jefferson administration but because of the way in which Presidents and Vice Presidents were elected at the time he became the Vice President with the second most number of votes. Jefferson however barred him from his inner circle and excluded him from important decisions and administration matters. Jefferson planned on picking his own man to run with him in his second presidential election campaign.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">W</span>hen he realized he would not serve as Jefferson’s Vice President in the second term, Burr poured his energy into getting elected as the governor of New York. Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury under George Washington and the writer of the majority of <strong><em>The Federalist Papers</em></strong> did not like Burr and he feared that Burr would use his connections in New York to weaken the Federalist Party in that state. He spoke out about Burr during his election for governor. Burr lost the election soundly but he blamed his lost on the smear campaign headed by Alexander Hamilton.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span>n return, Hamilton called Burr “despicable” in a newspaper article. Burr tried to get him to apologize but he refused. This was the origin of the most famous duel in American history. Burr challenged Hamilton for his honor and the two met on the dueling grounds in Weehawken, New Jersey on July 11, 1804. Hamilton fired first and missed. Then, Burr fired his weapon. Hamilton was mortally wounded and Burr was charged with murder. After the duel, Burr was still popular in the South and West as a man who had rightfully defended his honor but his political fortunes in the East were destroyed. However, he was able to have most charges against him dropped and he enjoyed immunity from prosecution in Washington, D.C. Burr stayed in Washington to complete his term as Jefferson’s Vice President.<br /><div><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342424934986710562" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 290px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SiQbLEkSfiI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/KpLVP5DBTDg/s400/6a00c2252570aaf21900cd97269a124cd5-500pi.jpg" border="0" /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">A</span>fter completing his term as Vice President, Burr headed West. From 1805 to 1807 he travelled up and down the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers calling for a “grand expedition.” It is unclear what Burr really wanted. He called on the liberation of Mexico from Spain and some have argued that is all he wanted. But others have gone further and thought that he was author of a conspiracy to separate the lands beyond the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers from the United States. His enemies charged he wanted to do both. Burr owned lands in Texas which was then part of Mexico. He believed that there was a war coming between the United States and Mexico. He also believed that if he settled in Texas with a group of fellow settlers who could be called on as an army, that once that war came he could use that army to fight and claim land for himself and to set up a new and sovereign nation in the West. Of course, war did not come to Mexico until 1836 when Texas fought for its independence. But Burr persisted from 1805 to 1807 to accomplish his plans. Burr worked to cultivate relationships with military and financial powers in the Mississippi Valley and Ohio River region that could help him to succeed.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">H</span>e called on Harman Blennerhassett, a wealthy Irishman to provide financial support and on a small island in the Ohio River, where Blennerhassett lived, he set up a base of operations to store supplies and gather men. He made contact with Anthony Merry who was Great Britain’s minister to America requesting funds for this expedition. In the letter, Merry claimed that he also hinted that he was looking “to effect a separation of the Western part of the United States.” He even requested the use of the British Royal Navy to secure the Mississippi River during the takeover. He also approached General James Wilkinson who was the commander and chief of the United States Army at New Orleans and Governor of the Louisiana Territory asking him for his support. Unfortunately, Wilkinson was also a double agent working for Spain. Ignorant of that, Burr enlisted him in a series of reconnaissance missions of the West. He also sent Wilkinson several cipher letters. In one letter he intimated that he was involved in “things improper to letter.”<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">A</span>fter a near incident on a reconnaissance mission with Spanish forces near Natchitoches, Texas, Wilkerson decided he could best protect himself from charges of treason and help himself financially by betraying Burr’s plan to Jefferson and the Spanish authorities who had hired him. It is still very ambiguous what Burr was up to but he was clearly planning some type of filibusting expedition against Mexico and possibly seeking to grab even more lands, perhaps some from the new Louisiana Purchase.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="left"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342424540714688514" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 302px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SiQa0Hyg4AI/AAAAAAAAAKI/1j9sZK4TFIw/s400/1803shepherd.jpg" border="0" /> 1803 Map of the United States, Library of Congress<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">J</span>efferson had been given reports on Burr’s activities but at first he did not act. More and more complaints however reached his ears as did Wilkinson’s charge. Finally, Thomas Jefferson had enough. He ordered Burr arrested without an indictment declaring him a traitor to the United States. Soon, afterward in early 1807, Burr was arrested in the Louisiana Territory. He was to be tried in the United States Circuit Court in Richmond Virginia. The trail was to be proceeded over by the Chief Justice of the United States, John Marshall. </div><br /><div align="left"><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341411158486871442" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 261px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SiCBJgzq7ZI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/_Sfmp6dlyNY/s400/009.JPG" border="0" /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">B</span>urr was marched east toward Richmond. As he was being transported through Chester, South Carolina, Burr saw an opportunity to make an appeal to the citizens of Chester. Burr was popular in the South and in South Carolina. His daughter, Theodosia had married Joseph Alston, governor and prominent planter from South Carolina in 1801. Burr sensing that he might be able to manipulate the large crowd that had gathered at a Tavern in the town square in Chester, jumped off his horse and jumped onto a large stone that sat in the town square. He shouted out, “I am Aaron Burr, under military arrest, and claim the protection of the civil authorities.” But this was to no avail because before anyone could react he was quickly subdued by his captors and marched out of Chester leaving only the Burr rock as evidence of his passing through South Carolina.<br /><div align="left"><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341411032466836642" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 250px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SiCBCLWJzKI/AAAAAAAAAJw/BAuijnWgEQ4/s400/008.JPG" border="0" /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">S</span>ometime later he found himself in Richmond, Virginia facing the court to answer the charges as to whether he had committed treason against the United States. Jefferson threw the whole weight of his administration against Burr in trying to get a guilty verdict returned on the case. Jefferson’s own dreams of western empire may have influenced his actions against Burr. War with Spain and her ally, Napoleonic France over Mexico was a dangerous proposition. Jefferson, who had worked hard to maintain American neutrality in European affairs did not see fillbusting expeditions like this as helping his cause in doing so. Finally, Jefferson probably felt anxious about his great coup: the Louisiana Purchase. Losing it would all but destroy his hopes of the United States spreading its wings from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Nevertheless, Jefferson’s efforts were rebuffed by Chief Justice John Marshall who worked hard for a fair trial. The lack of physical evidence helped Burr’s defense and in the end, Burr was acquitted of all charges. But the stench of this episode would not go away for Burr. His political future was destroyed and he was left financially broke. He fled to Europe for several years only to return to the United States where he would die in 1836. It is unclear what Burr wanted to accomplish in the West. In the end, whatever it was never materialized. The United States stood alone. There were no other new and rival nations in North America to block American progress in acquiring western lands from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Aaron Burr's dreams for his "grand expedition" became a footnote of history.<br /><br />Andy Thomas<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Some Resources Used to Write this Blog: Website:<br /></span><br /></span></strong>Aaron Burr from Wikipedia: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Burr">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Burr</a><br /><br />The Duel at the American Experience: <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/duel/">http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/duel/</a><br /><br />For the incident in Chester, SC see <strong><em>History of Alabama</em></strong>, Thomas M. Owen, 1900, pp. 498-499.<br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SiB_X5t6J9I/AAAAAAAAAJI/bz6WeFKwtxE/s1600-h/005.JPG"></a></div>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-78016280102826558782009-05-08T13:18:00.000-07:002009-05-10T17:00:25.270-07:00The Palmetto Regiment Flag Casts a Shadow Over Mexico<div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333551263551735794" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 254px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SgSUnadWR_I/AAAAAAAAAII/__AajUbhomw/s400/nebel11.jpg" border="0" /></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:85%;">The Battle of Chapultepec, Carl Nebel</span></strong><br /></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;">“</span>The Gallant Palmettos, who showed themselves worthy of their state and country, lost nearly one half. The victory will carry joy and sorrow into half the families in South Carolina.” Brigadier General W.J. Worth, August 26th, 1847.<br /><br /></div><br /><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333551396970393250" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 248px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SgSUvLe1bqI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/ZZLRQgkscYE/s400/index.jpg" border="0" /> <span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>The Charge of the Palmettos at Churubusco (In Harper's Weekly, 1855)</strong></span><br /></p><p align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he Mexican War (1846-1848) was one of the major outcomes of United States beliefs of Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny’s major tenet was the belief that the United States should encompass the whole of North America from east to west. Winning the war with Mexico led to the Mexicans surrendering vast new territories to the United States. These lands would one day be the states of Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and portions of the states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Wyoming. The war was a pivotal event that contributed to the United States spreading its system of government and culture from the Atlantic to the Pacific shores. Men from South Carolina would volunteer for this war, as would thousands of other Americans, and they would all become a part of the story of American Westward Expansion.<br /></p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333614838150351202" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SgTOb8S0SWI/AAAAAAAAAIY/OQGhYNR43QM/s400/010.JPG" border="0" /><br /><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:85%;">Historical Marker for Palmetto Regiment in Saluda, South Carolina</span></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span>n South Carolina, President James Polk’s call for volunteers led to the formation of the Palmetto Regiment. This regiment was composed of 10 companies of men from both the United States professional army and volunteers. Most volunteers served in the war as infantry. The regiment joined General Winifred Scott’s regular army in February 1847. The Palmettos, as they were known, were landed at Vera Cruz by the United States Navy to assist Scott in his siege of that city. They went on to serve bravely in four additional campaigns including battles at Contreras, Churubusco, Chapultepec, and Belén Gate.<br /></div><br /><br /><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333551170592646114" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 252px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SgSUiAKLI-I/AAAAAAAAAIA/x1Ew-16D-QA/s400/nebel10.jpg" border="0" /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>The Battle of Chalpultepec, Carl Nebel</strong></span><br /></p><p align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;">M</span>any from the regiment suffered death from diseases rather than from combat. In fact, as many as 13,000 U.S. soldiers died in the war but only about 2,000 from combat. In the Palmetto Regiment 1027 served. 292 died but 236 died from disease and only 56 died in combat or wounds received in combat. The exception was the relatively large number of Palmettos lost in the Battle of Churubusco. Most deaths during the war came from yellow fever, malaria, measles, and dysentery that swept through whole regiments as they served along the humid, tropical coasts near Vera Cruz as well as in the rugged, plateaus of the Valley of Mexico near Mexico City. The Palmetto Regiment had the highest death rate in General Scott’s army. The Highest Ranking Officer from South Carolina, Colonel Pierce Butler (a former governor of the state) was killed by enemy fire during the Battle of Churubusco. His body was later laid to rest near his hometown in Edgefield, South Carolina.<br /><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;">A</span>fter Scott’s successful siege and taking of the port of Vera Cruz in March 1847, the U.S. Army, now supplied through this port with supplies and manpower slowly fought its way toward Mexico City. Although outmanned in every battle, superior training and equipment helped the United States to slowly push the Mexicans back toward their capital. Here General Scott halted before the gates of Mexico City in August, 1847. The capital itself was defended by over 30,000 men as well as several citadels and forts. One of these forts sat on top of a hill and was known as Chapultepec Castle. After asking for surrender and once more being refused, Scott then led his troops on a charge up the hill of Chapultepec. The Palmetto Regiment fought bravely here and in the end planted their flag along side the regiment of New York’s flag atop Chapultepec Castle, the citadel that guarded one of the approaches to Mexico City. Scott then continued to advance the fight to the center of the Mexico City. On September 13, 1847, U.S. troops raised the Stars and Stripes over the Palace of Montezuma. Soon, afterwards the Mexicans sued for peace.<br /></p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333623558485671778" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SgTWXiExf2I/AAAAAAAAAJA/DrrFmk3oFXU/s400/001.JPG" border="0" /><br /><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>The Palmetto Regiment Monument at the South Carolina State House</strong></span></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he Palmetto Regiment veterans came home as heroes. Today you can find few relics of their deeds. There is a monument to this regiment on the state house grounds in Columbia. There are a few historical markers scattered throughout the state as in Saluda. And there are some old but interesting artifacts from the war and commemorating the war at the South Carolina State Museum and the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum in Columbia. Many of the veterans of this war went on to also serve in the Civil War. And it was this terrible civil war, rather than a war that advanced United States lands clear to the Pacific, that would overshadow what happened in Mexico. It would also overshadow the accomplishment of Manifest Destiny that led the United States to become one of the great powers of the world during the late 19th and early 20th century. So, for a short time the Palmetto Regiment’s flag cast its shadow over Mexico and the Mexican capital and symbolically signaled the march of Manifest Destiny and the happy and bitter fruits of Westward Expansion. </div><br /><br /><div align="left">Andy Thomas </div><br /><div align="left"><strong>Works I consulted in writing this blog:<br /></strong><br />1) See South Carolinians in the War with Mexico at <a href="http://sciway3.net/proctor/state/sc_mexicanwar.html">http://sciway3.net/proctor/state/sc_mexicanwar.html</a><br /><br />2) South Carolina Confederate Relic Room & Military Museum’s Exhibit on the Mexican War at <a href="http://crr.sc.gov/exhibitions/tour/mexicanwar/">http://crr.sc.gov/exhibitions/tour/mexicanwar/</a> </div>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-64545223551502230112009-04-20T13:46:00.000-07:002009-05-08T17:09:21.586-07:00Traveler's Tales: Cabrillo's Voyage to California<span style="font-size:180%;">“<em>I</em></span><em> tell you that on the right-hand side of the Indies there was an island called California, which was very close to the region of Earthly Paradise. This island was inhabited by black women and there were no males among them at all, for their life style was similar to that of the Amazons. The island was made up of the wildest cliffs and sharpest precipices found anywhere in the world . . .” <strong>Las Sergas de Esplandian</strong></em> by Garcia Rodriguez Montalvo, 1510<br /><br /><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326945976423059266" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 122px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Se0dJGZkj0I/AAAAAAAAAHg/vbL0NfEK06o/s400/Cabrillo+1+001.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">C</span>alifornia was originally a myth. The myth was brought to literary circles by Garcia Rodriguez Montalvo. It was not unlike hundreds of other Traveler’s Tales told before, during, and after the Age of Exploration. As new discoveries were made excitement abounded and imagination mingled with fact; stories were soon fashioned and told about the new "virgin" lands. Along the Atlantic Coast, the Spanish heard tales about the land of Chicora culled together from the natives taken in Spanish slave raids along the South Carolina coast in the 1520’s. The tales told that beyond the coastline in South Carolina, and most of the rest of the southern coast was the land of Chicora. It was a place where the inhabitants were white and had long red hair. Their king and queen were giants. Nearby was a region called Xapida, where pearls were found in abundance. These people also had great herds of domesticated deer, which they milked. They also made deer-milk cheese.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he same sort of tales circulated on the Pacific Coast. California was not a part of the mainland. It was an island. The island of California was ruled by a black Amazon queen who had weapons made of gold. These Amazons also used man-eating griffins as beasts of burden. These stories and others eventually led Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo to be the first European to sail along the west coast of the United States. He opened this region to both exploration and European settlement. Born sometime around 1500, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, was intrigued by the stories of Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, and Bartolomeu Dias as well as other traveler’s tales. He decided to go to the New World as did many other young Spaniards to look for wealth and adventure. He arrived in Cuba sometime after 1510. After several years of soldering in Cuba, he was sent to Mexico with an army under the command of Pánfilo de Narvaez to capture Hernan Cortes who was to be returned to Cuba to answer questions of insubordination. Cortes, however, had other plans and he surprised and defeated Narvaez's army in a night battle in the rain in 1520. Cortes then convinced many of Narvaez’s soldiers to join him in conquest by telling them about the dazzling golden riches of the Aztecs. </p><p><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span>n 1520-1521, as a unproven young man, Cabrillo assisted Cortes as a corporal of crossbowmen on his conquest of the Aztecs. He was there at the siege of Tenochtitlan and participated in many other battles and skirmishes. After the conquest of the Aztecs, the Spanish then moved south to conquer other native peoples. Cabrillo had by then risen in the ranks to become a hidalgo (an officer of some status). He went on to assist Pedro de Alvarado in subduing the descendants of the Mayans: the Quiches and the Tzutuhils in the conquest of Guatemala in 1524. By this time he had become a man of some means and some time afterward in 1536 he was appointed by Alvalrado as the chief magistrate of the port of Iztapa on the west coast of Guatemala. Here he was ordered to build ships for exploring the Mar de Sur: the South Sea or the Pacific. He built seven or eight ships over the next four years. One of the ships, a galleon, was built with his own money and was known as the <em>San Salvador</em>. This growing fleet was soon set to explore the South Sea. Alvarado’s untimely death in July 1541 in attempting to put down a local uprising in Mexico, however, put the expedition on hold. </p><br /><p><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Se0cw6ezKzI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/eoLN7iCisLE/s1600-h/Cabrillo+5+001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326945560906902322" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 132px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Se0cw6ezKzI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/eoLN7iCisLE/s400/Cabrillo+5+001.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>hen the Viceroy of New Spain, Antonio de Mendoza, soon stepped in and resumed Alvarado's quest. He asked Cabrillo to lead a smaller fleet on an expedition to the South Sea to search for new trade opportunities with the Native Americans and to search for a route to China. One part of the fleet was to sail west into the Pacific while the other sailed north along the coast and then west to rendezvous with the other fleet. Cabrillo was to lead the one exploring the coast. Cabrillo accepted the charge and began to equip and man his ships. He had over 200 crewmen who would sail with him. Cabrillo and his 3 vessels the <em>San Salvador</em>, the <em>Victoria</em>, and the <em>San Miguel </em>set out from Navidad, Mexico on June 27, 1542. </p><br /><p><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326945032932922690" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 263px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Se0cSLn_lUI/AAAAAAAAAG4/23iqwgmYu8E/s400/Cabrillo+2+001.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">W</span>ith a family, a comfortable government position, and almost 40 years old, why did Cabrillo decide to go on the expedition to the South Sea? Was it more riches? Or did he hope to gain knowledge and fame in finding a route to China and the Orient (the fabled Northwest Passage)? Alvarado had hoped to discover the mythical island of California. Did Cabrillo also have this dream? Or was it just the lure of exploration? What lay around the next cove? What was beyond the horizon? The siren of the Traveler’s Tales was calling.<br /></p><p><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326945143568879746" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 263px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Se0cYnxqUII/AAAAAAAAAHA/3n-vym56GMg/s400/Cabrillo+3+001.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">O</span>n September 28, 1542 after 3 months of sailing along the Baja coastline the men sailed into a beautiful harbor today known as San Diego. Cabrillo claimed the land for Spain and gave it the name of San Miguel. Cabrillo and his men briefly explored the area making contact with the local Native Americans. Then they continued their voyage. They sailed along the California coast and they explored the Channel Islands. By November they had gone as far north as Point Reyes, just north of San Francisco. They then turned south to seek shelter from some fierce storms. On January 3, 1543 Cabrillo died on one of the Channel Islands from an injury sustained earlier on the voyage. Cabrillo shattered his shin when he stumbled on some rocks while going ashore. The injury eventually led to gangrene and then to death. </p><br /><p><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326945372689605026" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 252px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Se0cl9UTIaI/AAAAAAAAAHI/10vZurQmPi4/s400/Cabrillo+7+001.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">C</span>abrillo did not discover riches in gold. He did not discover the Northwest Passage, nor did he find the legendary Island of California with its black Amazons. In the end his traveler’s tales were more solid and substantial than ethereal and fantastic. He helped to fill in knowledge about the West. For the first time, this expedition mapped the west coast of what would one day be California and the United States. His expedition also solidified Spanish claims to this area and eventually led to Spanish settlements. The land of California would flower in time to be a destination in vogue whether it was 49ers, the entertainers of Hollywood, or the hippies of the Summer of Love. The tales of what Cabrillo found pointed the way for others who sought their own dreams and destinies in the mythical and real land of California. </p><br /><p><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326945813671007826" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 274px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Se0c_oGdVlI/AAAAAAAAAHY/Thm_zdseBZc/s400/Cabrillo+6+001.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>oday, Point Loma overlooking San Diego Bay is where the Cabrillo National Monument is located. San Diego is a beautiful city and I urge you to visit it if you have not done so. The weather there seems to be almost perfect every time I have been. Point Loma is also a beautiful spot overlooking the waves of the Pacific. The Old Point Loma Lighthouse stands at the top and guided ships into the bay from 1855-1891. You can spot seals, grey whales, and other maritime creatures in the waters and on the rocks below. I recommend it on your next trip West. Some traveler's tales endure.<br /><br />Andy Thomas<br /><br /> </p><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326946127933463970" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 274px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Se0dR60d3aI/AAAAAAAAAHo/cRNlBNPJoNE/s400/Cabrillo+4+001.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><strong>Works used in preparation of this Blog:<br /><br /><em>An Account of the Voyage of Juan Rodriguiez Cabrillo</em></strong>, Cabrillo National Monument Foundation, San Diego, 1999. </p>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-73565240593380774312009-03-27T10:05:00.000-07:002009-05-08T17:19:06.040-07:00James McPherson: Ranger and Rancher on the Southern Colonial Frontier<strong></strong><br /><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318284055953123378" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 269px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Sc5XK-G1qDI/AAAAAAAAAGw/nO6hI9dmj1I/s400/Yemassee+War1+001.jpg" border="0" /></strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Print of Yemassee raid on SC frontier found in Library of Congress collection</strong><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">J</span>ames McPherson was a prominent rancher, a militiaman who fought in the Yemassee War, a captain and commander of South Carolina’s Southern Rangers, and a trusted frontiersman who helped in the founding of the Georgia colony. McPherson was actively engaged economically and militarily during the period between 1715 and 1750 and contributed to pushing back the colonial frontier and preparing the region of southern Carolina for future settlement. In addition, he led one of the earliest documented cattle drives from the South Carolina colony to the new colony of Georgia. He was a true harbinger of the men who would follow in subsequent western frontiers.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">A</span> watershed event in southwestern South Carolina, as well as in all of South Carolina during the early colonial period was the Yemassee War of 1715. The Yemassee and their Creek allies tired of their continued abuse by Carolina’s deer skin traders launched fierce raids on Good Friday, April 15th. They killed many traders, settlers, and livestock. They burned and ransacked frontier homes and outlying settlements. Stunned survivors of these devastating raids were forced to retreat to the walls of Charles Town. The South Carolina colony seemed to be on the verge of destruction.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he Carolinians fought back. They used a victory on the banks of the Salkehatchie River and another at Port Royal as a springboard to drive all the Yemassee out of the colony and across the Savannah River. The danger, however, was not over. The Yemassee’s powerful allies had included many of the Creek tribes in Georgia and Alabama. Carolina authorities desperately sought security for the shaken British colony. The key was found in forging an alliance with the Cherokee in the Appalachian Mountains. They were traditional enemies of the Creeks. With Carolina’s backing and weapons the Cherokee waged war on the Creeks. South Carolinians regained control over the frontier. The Yemassee retreated to Spanish Florida. There they were encouraged by the Spanish to harass British settlers on their former lands in South Carolina. Yemassee raids across the Savannah River during the next 13 years, 1715-1728, left the lands in southern Carolina unsafe. It won the area between the Savannah River and the Combahee and Salkehatchie Rivers the sobriquet of the “Indian Lands.”<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span>n December 1716 the South Carolina government authorized an act for the appointment of rangers to guard the frontiers. Rangers were volunteers or men drafted from the milita who served a specific number of months patrolling the frontier on horseback. The rangers were mobile troops whose primary mission was to search for Native Americans who entered South Carolina as unwanted guests. If unwanted Native Americans were found on their patrols, the rangers were to demand them to leave and/or then, if all else failed, drive them out by force. A combination of small palisade forts and rangers prevented major attacks and stopped most raids by Native American tribes in the following years. By 1718 the rangers and forts were disbanded and abandoned as the Yemassee threat seemed to diminish. But new raids in 1723 and 1726 brought both the rangers and forts back.<br /><br /><br /><br /><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318281291654536498" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 348px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Sc5UqESsnTI/AAAAAAAAAGo/FOJBUZhJQcE/s400/Scout+and+Ranger+001.jpg" border="0" />Drawing by Bill Drath from Larry E. Ivers, <strong>British Drums on the Southern Frontier</strong></p><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">J</span>ames McPherson, of Scottish descent, who was born in 1688 and had served in the South Carolina militia during the Yemassee War, now appeared prominently upon the stage. McPherson became one of the earliest documented backcountry settlers in the lands that are today near the town of Yemassee and part of or near to Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, and Jasper counties, South Carolina. He sought his livelihood as a cattle rancher. Ranching, although, it never fully recovered from the Yemassee War, was a quick and easy means to obtain wealth in colonial South Carolina before the arrival of rice and indigo. There was little expense or labor involved. Cattle were left to roam the grasslands and forests eating grasses and other wild foods. They were perfectly suited to the mild climate of the Carolina backcountry and were left to forge for food and fend for themselves during the winter. The cattle were rounded up by a minimum number of slaves. They were then, separated out to be slaughtered or driven to market. Butchered meat was packed in wooden barrels with a brine solution and sold to feed the growing population along the southern Carolina coast and/or shipped as provisions to the large sugar plantations in the British Caribbean. McPherson’s 500 acre cowpen was one of the largest cowpens in the area and was manned by McPherson’s family and slaves. Cowpens were areas that were defined by a combination of natural features such as streams or rivers as well as manmade features such as fences. The waterways and fences designated the area in which cattle could range free. McPherson’s Cowpens at the head of the Combahee River where the Salkehatchie and Little Salkehatchie Rivers converged was at a perfect spot to ship goods to market on the coast.<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318280796861961970" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Sc5UNRC9FvI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/wDs9d5O_hVo/s400/Cattle.bmp" border="0" /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">B</span>y 1726, in response to renewed Yemassee raids, a division of Carolina rangers were moved to Saltcatcher’s Fort which had been established on or near McPhersons’ Cowpens on the Salkehatchie River and named after the Saltcatcher Indians, a Yemassee group who had inhabited the spot until driven out in 1715. McPherson was appointed Captain of the rangers. Over time they became known as the Southern Rangers or McPherson’s Rangers. They went on mounted patrols scouring the lands between the stockade of Saltcatcher’s Fort on the headwaters of the Combahee to Fort Prince George on the Savannah River looking for Yemassee raiding parties. Fort Prince George or Palachacola Fort was a fort located on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River across the river from an old Native American town known as Palachacola Town. The site of the fort is in the extreme southwestern portion of Hampton County. It was a strategic point because all Native Americans entering lower South Carolina had to stop at the fort for permission from Charles Town authorities before continuing into South Carolina. A detachment of Carolina rangers who became known as the Palachacola Garrison were assigned to this fort. They patrolled the region north to present day North Augusta and Fort Moore (See previous blog: <em>A Glimpse of the “True” Old West</em>) and east toward the lands patrolled by McPherson’s Rangers.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span>n 1733 McPherson and the Southern Rangers were ordered south by the South Carolina government to support the founding of the Georgia colony. McPherson’s troops provided safe passage for General James Oglethorpe and the new settlers who established the city of Savannah. Later he was ordered to establish a fort in Georgia on the Ogechee River where two Native American paths crossed in order to protect the new town of Savannah. This fort became known as Fort Argyle. Mcpherson’s Rangers manned the fort and he became a close advisor to Oglethorpe.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">B</span>y 1735, safely protected by the lands of the new colony of Georgia, South Carolina abandoned the ranger system and withdrew support for its rangers and forts. The colony of Georgia kept McPherson on for two more years as an advisor but in 1736 he returned to ranching in South Carolina. His close ties to the new colony of Georgia provided him with contacts useful to his ranch operation. And in 1736 he drove a herd a cattle, “all the way overland” from South Carolina to the new Scottish settlement of Darien in southern Georgia to provide the settlers there with fresh provisions of milk and meat. It was the first of any such documented long-distance cattle drives in the lower South and the <em><strong>South Carolina Gazette</strong> </em>said that it created “joy” among the new Scottish settlers “to find the communication for cattle by land opened.” We wish we knew more about this drive over numerous deep, salty, intercoastal rivers, muddy marshes, and trackless woodlands. It sounds like quite an adventure. A cattle drive, not quite a rival to those cattle drives north by those hardy cowboys of Texas, but still an impressive accomplishment.<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318280939939298498" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 136px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Sc5UVmDP_MI/AAAAAAAAAGY/a8FQcD4SkmY/s400/SC+Gazette+001.jpg" border="0" /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">M</span>cPherson continued to buy cattle and drive them to Georgia to be slaughtered. He would later return to serve the colony of South Carolina as intrigue with Spanish Florida and then later French Louisiana emerged in the 1740’s and 1750’s. He served in revamped versions of the rangers in 1744, 1746, and 1751. McPherson lived more than half of his life as a solider and rancher on the frontier. During his lifetime the frontier shifted north, south, and west of the Carolina colony. McPherson, who was instrumental in that shift, lived to see the end of that era. He died at age 83 in 1771. James McPherson, ranger and rancher, is a suitable hero for southern South Carolina’s colorful frontier past.<br /><br />Andy Thomas<br /><br /><strong>Works I consulted for this Blog:</strong><br /><br />Lawrence S. Rowland, Alexander Moore, and George Rogers, Jr., <em><strong>The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina, Volume I, 1514-1861</strong></em> (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1996.<br /><br />Verner W. Crane, <em><strong>The Southern Frontier: 1670-1732 </strong></em>(Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1929).<br /><br />Larry E. Ivers, <em><strong>British Drums on the Southern Frontier: The Military Colonization of Georgia, 1733-1749</strong></em> (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1974)<br /><br />For the cattle drive see: <em><strong>South Carolina Gazette </strong></em>(Charles Town, 1732-75), October 9, 1736 edition.Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-24392034513916215942009-03-25T11:43:00.001-07:002011-01-28T12:20:10.074-08:00The Battle of Alamance: The “Cultured” East Verses the “Barbarian” West<div><div> <span style="font-size:180%;">I</span>n America’s frontier history you can find a theme of the eastern establishment battling it out with the expanding western population. Much of this had to do with control and access of local government, taxes, and western lands and resources. It also had to do with the regulation of laws and justice. Two groups with the same name sprang up in South Carolina and North Carolina during the late colonial period to better “regulate” the frontier. Both groups would leave a legacy that would color America's Western Experience.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span>n South Carolina the problem for the Regulators was a lack of government in the backcountry. All matters dealing with land purchases, licenses and fees, and law and justice was administered from Charleston and the coastal areas of South Carolina. Backcountry residents had to travel quite a ways to take care of and respond to common and daily functions of government. They also found that without local government it was hard to pursue justice against frontier bandits and outlaws who had sprang up in its void. So, the South Carolina Regulators took the law in their own hands and began to administer vigilante justice to better regulate the backcountry. They were some of the first recorded vigilantes in America. Vigilante justice would be found on each subsequent frontier where there was a void of law. Within several years, due to the loud protests of the backcountry population for their daily inconveniences and their ongoing vigilante actions the government in Charleston relented and gave the backcountry new local governments in order to pacify the general population and to build relationships with those elite who would govern them. The South Carolina Regulators disappeared just before the coming of the Revolution.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span>n North Carolina the Regulators had another focus. Here their concerns were over the corruption found in local government where some elites collected exorbitant and illegal fees to amass their own fortunes. One who was notorious was Edmund Fanning the register of deeds for Orange County and a colonel in the local militia. Residents in the backcountry were also upset that the elite took the very best lands and often held onto it without settling. They were hoping to profit through land speculation. They routinely evicted any squatters. In addition, residents found that the system of taxation bore heavily on westerners. There was a provision in the law that said that payment in kind was prohibited. They could not trade their goods or services to pay public debts. Only hard currency or specie was accepted. The westerners had little specie and many could not pay their taxes or debts and were imprisoned as a result.<br /><div><br /></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 261px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317445341631186258" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SctcXXx7hVI/AAAAAAAAAFo/w6NnboBSfiE/s400/Tryon+Palace2+001.jpg" /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">O</span>ne of the reasons for collecting such high taxes was the building of Tryon Palace in New Bern on the coast. It was built between 1767 and 1770 for the royal governor of North Carolina: William Tyron. Today it is known as Tyron Palace. It was a very elegant Georgian structure with a sense of opulence and grandeur. It was also to be North Carolina’s first permanent capitol. But the 1000’s of pounds needed to build it had impacted relations between those on the coast and those on the backcountry frontier.<br /><div><br /></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 257px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317445432858664914" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SctccroQX9I/AAAAAAAAAFw/YM3IIUsUNo4/s400/Tryon+Palace+001.jpg" /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">N</span>ot able to find relief from a corrupt government and excessive taxes by peaceful means the situation deteriorated into violence. The Regulators defiantly refused to pay what they saw as illegal fees and high, unfair taxes. They terrorized those who tried to administer the law by arresting people who could not pay in specie or pay at all and they disrupted court proceedings. By 1770 a group of mostly Scotch-Irish farmers calling themselves the Regulators descended on Orange County courthouse in Hillsborough, North Carolina and beat up several officers of the court and wrecked Edmund Fanning’s house. The North Carolina government on the coast, hearing of these actions, passed the Riot Act and proclaimed that actions of protest and violence were punishable by death. The Regulators then counter threatened to march on New Bern. This threat, however, led to Governor Tryon advancing into the backcountry with eastern militia made up of almost 1,000 men. He would face a disorganized Regulator force of nearly 2,000. </div><br /><div><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317447591726799202" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/ScteaWCh2WI/AAAAAAAAAGI/lVtGv-B-wwE/s400/29017991_P5140496.jpg" /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">O</span>n May 16th, 1771 on the banks of the Alamance River about eight miles south of today’s Burlington, North Carolina, the Regulators rejected Governor Tryon’s request to disperse peacefully. The rebellion was immediately crushed. Over 300 Regulators were killed and the rest were scattered as they fled for safety. Only 9 militia men were killed and 61 wounded. Tyron took 15 prisoners and hung them to illustrate a point about the power of royal and eastern government and its control. Many Regulators who stayed were offered pardons by the governor in exchange for an oath of allegiance to the royal government. After this, reforms were made to combat the corruption in royal government in the backcountry. Fees and Taxes were also reduced. This helped to bring a period of peace before the Revolution.<br /><div><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">S</span>ome of the Regulators chose to leave North Carolina. They chose to flee across the mountains and beyond the Proclamation Line of 1763 to eastern Tennessee where they could live their lives not encumbered by royal or eastern government. Some historians have pointed out that this conflict between royal prerogative and local prerogative as a precursor to the American Revolution And in fact, some of these men, formerly known as Regulators would shortly be known as the Overmountain Men, and would be the ones who re-crossed the mountains during the American Revolution and contributed to the Patriot Victory at the Battle of Kings Mountain.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he struggle between the tidewater and the Piedmont is an old theme in American history. Easterners tended to view Westerners as uncivilized backwoodsmen. Easterners also thought they had the legal and moral responsibility to ensure the West was settled in a orderly fashion. Many believed it was also their right to exploit the West and Westerners. Westerners resented these beliefs. They wanted local government and believed they knew best how to run their own affairs. They also hated absentee landowners who forbid settlement on their lands as they hoped to make money in land speculation. Likewise for others who hoped to exploit their hard work. Westerners really just wanted the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their labor without being exploited by elites whether they were eastern dandies or royal officials. The Battle of Alamance and its aftermath was the first of many calls in American history to flee to the West to seek liberty, freedom, and fortunes on the wild western frontier.<br /><br /><strong>The work I consulted in helping me to write this blog was: </strong><br /><br />Middleton, Richard. <strong><em>Colonial America: A History 1585-1776</em></strong>, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, Inc, 1992; second edition 1996, pp. 460-462. </div></div></div>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-57281025217130320732009-03-19T16:25:00.000-07:002009-03-27T03:21:14.452-07:00Old Hickory Secures the Louisiana Purchase<div><font size="5">T</font>he War of 1812 was mostly fought in the East. But the biggest American victory of the war took place in the West: New Orleans. The Battle of New Orleans should never really have taken place since a peace treaty between America and Britain had been signed 15 days earlier in Ghent, Belgium. News of it, however, had not yet reached the Crescent City and the surrounding lands of Louisiana by January 8th.<br /><br /><font size="5">I</font>t was on January 8th, 1814 that British forces assaulted the Americans in an attempt to take New Orleans. Before that date the two sides maneuvered themselves for the battle. Admiral Alexander Cochran sailed in with a British force of more than 50 ships and almost 10,000 troops. These troops were led by Edward Pakenham. South Carolina’s own frontier backwoodsman, General Andrew Jackson arrived in the city in late fall 1814 after a resounding victory over the Creek Indians at Horseshoe Bend in Alabama. Old Hickory immediately took control of the American forces and began to create and shore up the defenses for the city. </div><br /><div><br /> </div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315076285681602338" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 185px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/ScLxuKonjyI/AAAAAAAAAFg/isaxS2cfl3E/s400/Chalmette+Battlefield4+001.jpg" border="0" /><br /><font size="5">A</font>fter several skirmishes, Jackson built a fortified position from mud, wood, and cotton bales at Chalmette Plantation, just three miles from New Orleans. Jackson manned his position with a thin line of defenders made up of American troops, New Orleans Creole militia, Kentucky and Tennessee frontiersmen, former Haitian slaves, and pirates. There was almost 4,000 men facing nearly 8,000 British troops. <br /><div><font size="5"></font> </div><br /><div><font size="5">T</font>he British assault began at dawn on January 8th and they had hoped to use the morning fog to their advantage. But the assault was delayed until well after dawn and the fog lifted to reveal the British advancing on an open field toward the American fortification. The British had also hoped to get over the fortification wall with ladders but in the confusion of the morning the ladders had been forgotten. </div><br /><div><br /></div><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315075779557062354" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 276px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/ScLxQtLH9tI/AAAAAAAAAFI/fZKeQP2Vot4/s400/Chalmette+Battlefield2+001.jpg" border="0" /><br /><font size="5">T</font>he British were mowed down in the open field and never really made a dent in the American position. Pakenham was mortally wounded in the assault. His successor called retreat and the British hurried off the field leaving more than 2,000 soldiers killed, wounded, or captured. The Americans had 71 casualties with 13 dead, 39 wounded, and 19 missing. The victory was complete. Within a week the large British force had withdrawn and sailed to Biloxi. It was here that the British learned of the new peace treaty that ended the War of 1812. They promptly packed up and sailed for home. </p><br /><p><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315075663554194194" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 278px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/ScLxJ9B4qxI/AAAAAAAAAFA/-9QFMvZUf64/s400/Chalmette+Battlefield1+001.jpg" border="0" /><br /><font size="5">S</font>o what did this battle that should have never been fought mean? It meant that Britain had to abide by the terms of the peace treaty. They had been turned back from New Orleans and so Americans had in a sense secured the Louisiana Purchase. The Mississippi River was now a safe, American artery of trade. American products shipped down Old Man River from all along its course had a free port of entry and an unblocked outlet to the wider world. This important natural resource was not controlled by any foreign government. This meant that the way was cleared for new migration and settlement along the Mississippi, as well as beyond in the West. There was a new sense of nationalism kindled in the breasts of Americans. Pride that they had once again defeated Britian. And Americans had a new hero. He was a man born on the South Carolina backwoods frontier who had a new western sense of focus. He was Andrew Jackson and he would first be elected president in 1828, and then again in 1832. After he served his terms as President he would become an advisor to later Presidents. In this capacity he would call for the annexation of Texas and give other advice on matters dealing with the West. On the 25th anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans he would lay the cornerstone for what would later be called Jackson Square in that city. There a famous statue of him on horseback would be placed and become a landmark in the Crescent City. </p><br /><div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315075877020769138" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 329px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/ScLxWYQSG3I/AAAAAAAAAFQ/DXfIRJuneRM/s400/Jackson+Square+001.jpg" border="0" /><br /><font size="5">I</font> visited the Chalmette Battlefield by steam paddle boat in the spring of 1999 when I was in New Orleans for a conference. It was a nice, sunny day. On August 29, 2005, however, Hurricane Katrina brought no smiles to New Orleans or anywhere near it. Chalmette Battlefield was partially flooded and the visitor’s center was destroyed by the hurricane. Since then, the park has been reopened. It is an important national site dedicated to a place where Old Hickory stood tall and made sure that Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase would remain American.<br /><br />Andy Thomas </div>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-46754318419893148372009-03-13T10:06:00.000-07:002009-03-20T03:46:07.346-07:00The Fleur de Lis Waves Off English Westward Expansion<div><br /><div><font size="5">T</font>he English traders from Charles Town were a bold sort and they spread out from the South Carolina port city to cover what was then the wide and wild southwestern frontier (Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Arkansas). They were seeking deerskins and Native American slaves for their trading ventures. They sought to trade English goods among the various Native American tribes they encountered. Early on, they pushed their way to the Mississippi and even as far West as the Arkansas River. As they established trading partners they sought to cement alliances with them and push British influence and expansion into these areas of the old West. By 1690 they had established trading posts among the Alabamas, a Creek tribe that would one day give its name to a new American state. They traded guns and ammunition, as well as beads and axes for deerskins and slaves. But in 1702, the French, who had already extensively explored this area, established the colony of Louisiana with its first capitol in Mobile. So began a struggle in the South, also marked in other parts of North America, between the English and the French for control of the Continent. </div><br /><br /><div><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312849313412987458" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SbsITUcoukI/AAAAAAAAAE4/EneqguuY304/s400/Fleur+de+Lis.jpg" border="0" /><br /><font size="5">T</font>he English influence among the Creeks remained strong for some years afterward, but things soon changed. In 1715 the Yemassee and their Creek allies rebelled against the English traders and their trading abuses. This was a serious blow to the Carolina colony, English trade, and English westward expansion. All English traders, living among the Creeks were killed at the start of the war. The Alabamas and other Creeks now needed a new trading partner to supply them with guns, ammunition, and other trade goods. In the turmoil that followed, the French, took advantage of this time to step in and take control of the trade with the Alabamas and the other Creek tribes and to also advance their own dreams of empire building.<br /><br /><br /><div><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312845242221766674" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SbsEmWFAqBI/AAAAAAAAAEY/KlafpmayJHk/s400/Fort+Toulouse1+001.jpg" border="0" /><br /><font size="5">I</font>n 1717 they built Fort Toulouse on the Coosa River on a high bluff controlling the river. The site is currently about ten miles north of the present day city of Montgomery. The fort was situated where the Coosa and the Tallapoosa come together to form the head of the Alabama River. This outpost was right in the middle of the Alabamas. It was only 5 days by boat on the Alabama River to Mobile. On the other hand, it was almost 500 miles and 27 days by land to Charles Town. The French strategically positioned the fort on a major intersection of the Lower Path. The Lower Path, a major Indian trading path, branched to the northwest to the Chickasaws and branched to the west to the Choctaws. With the establishment of Fort Toulouse the English were never again able to hold onto or effectively control or make alliances with the Creeks, Choctaws, or Chickasaws. They also worried about the influence of the French on winning the Creeks as a solid ally with enough support among them to march on the Carolina colony. This fort would be a thorn in the side of the English. Fort Toulouse effectively checked English expansion into the Old Southwest until 1763 and the end of the French and Indian War.<br /><br /><div><br /> </div><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312845434210995650" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 270px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SbsExhSzzcI/AAAAAAAAAEo/WKVWE_v-_U0/s400/Fort+Toulouse3+001.jpg" border="0" /><br /><font size="5">T</font>he outpost served several purposes. It was a diplomatic post for carrying on relations with the Alabamas and the Creeks. Because the post was small and did not expand very much the Creeks were happy to let it survive among them for their own reasons which were mainly trade and neutrality. After the Yemassee War the Creeks sought to stay neutral in the conflict between the English and the French. They hoped to play the two European powers against each other. Several years after the war they once again allowed the English to trade with them but also kept the English honest by allowing the French to trade with them from Fort Toulouse. The Creeks would not make any alliances that gave either European nation a strategic advantage and so, therefore manipulated both by taking a neutral stand. This in turn ensured their continued strength and survival until after the French and Indian War when they could no longer pit the French against the English.<br /><br /><font size="5">T</font>he outpost also served as a missionary outpost. First Capuchin friars and then Jesuits used the post to evangelize the Alabamas and their Creek allies. But more importantly, it served as a trading post and an alternative to English traders. English trade goods at the time were cheaper and of better quality than the French goods. But the Creeks did not want to limit themselves to these goods because of their stance of neutrality. So, they traded their deerskins with French traders from Mobile and then finally, after 1718, French traders from the new and growing port of New Orleans.<br /><br /></p><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312845556932411826" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 175px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SbsE4qd4AbI/AAAAAAAAAEw/Ov13OiXbI_Q/s400/Fort+Toulouse4+001.jpg" border="0" /><br /><font size="5">F</font>ort Toulouse was a small fort. It was also isolated, and poorly supplied. At first only about 20 to 30 French soldiers manned the outpost. After 1748, it expanded to include the families of these soldiers as well as others. Around 1751 about 140 French men, women, and children lived in and around the fort with about 40 of these serving as soldiers at the fort. This would be the case until 1763. In 1763, with the end of the French and Indian War, the fort was abandoned as part of the treaty negotiations. It would remain so until 1814. During the period of the War of 1812 the crumbling fort was rebuilt and re-named Fort Jackson in honor of General Andrew Jackson who had defeated the Creeks at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814 and who had ordered forts to be built to secure the surrounding countryside. It was here also in 1814 that the Treaty of Fort Jackson was signed and the Creeks surrendered more than a half of all their lands to the Americans and became no longer an obstacle or threat to American settlers and American Westward Expansion. Without the French, and now without even the protection of some English diplomats who had sought to halt expansion with such pre-Revolutionary War efforts as the Proclamation of 1763, the Creeks had no choice but to comply with these American demands. By 1817 Fort Jackson was also abandoned and the area around it slowly reverted to nature. There the site of both French and American forts remained hidden until rediscovered in 1986.<br /><br /><font size="5">I</font> visited the site of the fort on a late summer’s day in 1998. By then a reconstructed version of Fort Toulouse has been built near the original site. I looked down at the peaceful Coosa River as the wind rustled the trees and the sun began its descent from the sky. I closed me eyes and imagined the Fleur de Lis floating gracefully in that warm summer air so many centuries before. The French flag floating over Fort Toulouse signaled France’s determination to stand firm in these lands and this stance had, for a while, temporarily halted and waved off the early tide of English and American westward expansion.<br /><br /></p><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312845341258556562" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 269px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SbsEsHBOJJI/AAAAAAAAAEg/DYsOYSBAFlY/s400/Fort+Toulouse2+001.jpg" border="0" /><br /><strong>The best book on this subject and the work that I consulted is:</strong> </p><br /><br /><br /><p><br />Thomas, Daniel H. <strong><em>Fort Toulouse: The French Outpost at the Alabamas on the Coosa</em></strong>, 1960, 1989: Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama. </p><br /><br /><br /><p>Andy Thomas</p></div>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-35022183410920236072009-03-13T03:07:00.000-07:002009-05-08T17:22:05.985-07:00Architect of Manifest Destiny: Maps, Flowers, and a National Scientific Institute<span style="font-size:180%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312615345350234258" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 270px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Sbozglfj0JI/AAAAAAAAADw/914Q84qTc8M/s400/JR+Poinsett,+Thomas+Sully,+1840.BMP" border="0" /></span><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">A</span>t Christmas time we are all familiar with his namesake: the Poinsettia. This beautiful tropical, red flower is named after the man who brought it home from Mexico to grow in his home state of South Carolina in 1828. Joel Roberts Poinsett (1779-1851) is almost forgotten other than that note in history. But he was much more than an amateur botanist and promoter of this flower. He served as the first United States minister to Mexico and later as the United States Secretary of War with President Martin Van Buren. He was also a mentor to fellow southerner and western explorer John C. Fremont. His thoughts on race and civilization served as a foundation for what would later be called Manifest Destiny. He expanded the size of the United States Topographic Bureau and supported explorations to better map the West. And because of his interest in natural history he helped to found the predecessor to the Smithsonian.<br /><br /><div><div><span style="font-size:180%;">P</span>oinsett, a statesman, physician, and amateur botanist was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1779. He was schooled in Connecticut and then later in Europe. He was very well-educated and very well-travelled before his return to the United States. He served his own state of South Carolina as state representative and as an United States Congressional Representative. He was then appointed special envoy to Mexico in 1822-23 because of his experiences in South America observing and offering assistance to various revolutionaries who hoped to overthrow Spanish rule and establish republican style governments. It was in Mexico, as an interested naturalist and observer, that he wrote <strong><em>Notes on Mexico</em></strong> (1822), one of several popular and official descriptions of this country. Because of his considered expertise he was later appointed as the first United States Minister to Mexico in 1825 and held that post until 1830. He continued to champion republican styled government in Mexico along with certain racial and imperialist views of Mexico and its relationship to the United States. These views would color later relations among these two countries and Poinsett was not favorably viewed by some Mexicans who rightly feared American expansion at the expense of Mexico.</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span>t was during this time that he brought back the red flower known to the Aztecs as Cuetlaxochitl (meaning "skin flower.”) The flower had a connection to Christmas traditions in Mexico since the 16th century. There was a legend of a little, poor girl who received a visit from an angel at Christmas. The angel guided her to pick roadside weeds and place them before a church alter as a gift for baby Jesus. The weeds were then transformed into beautiful red flowers. These flowers, from the legend, became a traditional part of Christmas in Mexico. By 1836, they had also become a staple of American Christmas traditions, thanks to Joel Poinsett who grew them in his greenhouses in Charleston and then distributed them to friends and others. </div><div><br /><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312615545203277746" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 262px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SbozsOAPP7I/AAAAAAAAAD4/VMpcXXWSHxI/s400/Poinsettia_2.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">S</span>everal Years after he returned from Mexico, Poinsett was picked by President Martin Van Buren as his Secretary of War (1837-41). Here he pushed for policies of continued Indian removal from the East and presided over the Seminole War in Florida. He also called for the expansion of the United States Topographic Bureau. He said that, <em><strong>“We are still lamentably ignorant of the geography and resources of our country.”</strong></em> This expanded institution would impel him to send explorations to the West to seek new mineral and natural resources and to create new accurate maps. One of the young men he had mentored, John C. Fremont, would become one of the greatest of western explorers. He helped Fremont, a fellow Southerner, to get a job mapping the Southern Appalachian Mountains for a proposed railroad from Charleston to Cincinnati. (The railroad was never built but one of the tunnels was started. Stumphouse Tunnel is an abandoned, partially finished railroad tunnel blasted into the mountains just above Clemson University.). With this experience in mapping rugged terrain and his patron, Fremont was later helped to find work with the Army Corps of Engineers to survey the Upper Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. His accurate mapping on this expedition and other western ones helped to produce maps which were carried by thousands of settlers and others on their rush to the West and in their fulfillment of Manifest Destiny. </div><div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312615241551213010" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 341px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Sbozaiz8cdI/AAAAAAAAADo/OsRGpXt2UyI/s400/John+C.+Fremont+Map.BMP" border="0" /><span style="font-size:180%;">P</span>oinsett, ever interested in natural science, asked for these expeditions to bring back new plants and animal specimens when encountered. This also led him, in 1840, to found the National Institute for the Promotion of Science and the Useful Arts. This was to be the forerunner to what would become the Smithsonian. Although, a South Carolinian, Poinsett was a devoted unionist with ever an eye on how to help the United States become one of the great civilized nations of the world. He passed away in 1851 and is buried at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross in Stateburg, Sumter County, South Carolina. His importance lies in many areas. His name is forever connected with Christmas and the red, Aztec flower we call the Poinsettia. However, his importance is much more than that. He was one of the earliest of the architect’s for Manifest Destiny. He colored the relationship between Mexico and the United States, a relationship that would eventually lead to the annexation of Texas and a war with Mexico. He expanded the United States Topographic Bureau and called on expeditions to map the West. He was a mentor to the great western explorer, John C. Fremont who would carry out much of that mapping. And he helped to found one of the great scientific and museum complexes in the world: the Smithsonian. When you think about, it’s a wonder we don’t know more about Poinsett, other than how his last name graces the most famous of all Christmas flowers.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312823186909431842" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 275px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SbrwijoyCCI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/F17mdXoMOcY/s400/Joel+Poinsett+Grave+001.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="font-size:100%;">See articles I consulted for this blog:</span></strong><br /><br /></span><div>Freed, Feather Crawford. “<em>Joel Poinsett: Agent of Empire, Patron of Science</em>” (2008): <strong>Hidden Transcripts</strong>: <a href="http://hiddentranscripts.wordpress.com/2008/11/08/joel-poinsett-agent-of-empire-patron-of-science/">http://hiddentranscripts.wordpress.com/2008/11/08/joel-poinsett-agent-of-empire-patron-of-science/</a>. </div><div></div><div></div><div><br /><br /></div><div></div><div>Volpe, Vernon L. “<em>The Origins of the Fremont Expeditions: John J. Abert and the Scientific Exploration of the Trans-Mississippi West</em>.” <strong>The Historian</strong>, (January 1, 2000): Phi Alpha Theta, History Honor Society, Inc. Gale Group: Farmington Hills, Michigan</div><br /><div>Andy Thomas</div></div>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-32691409853673431882009-03-10T19:21:00.000-07:002009-05-08T17:13:53.311-07:00An Early Frontier in South Carolina<span style="font-size:180%;">O</span>nce South Carolina’s tidewater frontier had been pierced by planters and slaves, the next subsequent frontier (depleted of most Native Americans for decades) began to be filled up with settlers from the Old World and the New. They arrived here between 1730-1775. Germans, Swiss, and Irish swarmed into the Backcountry enticed by inducements to settle in such places as Purrysburg, Orangeburg, and Williamsburg. In addition, Scotch-Irish, Germans, North Carolinians, and Virginians came south from Philadelphia on the Great Wagon Road looking for new lands and livelihoods. This frontier, named the Backcountry, included the place where I had been born and spent most of my life Fairfax, South Carolina. Fairfax is in Allendale County which is the newest created county in the state: 1919. Most people would not see Allendale County, South Carolina as a frontier land. However, in the colonial period and beyond Allendale County had been a part of the Old Barnwell District and its currently defined boundaries sit on the edge of the Lowcountry in a transitional geographical zone. In its northern reaches the land gives way from low lands and swamps to low hills and rises. During the colonial period this place, minus the Native Americans, was as wild and unsettled as other subsequent frontiers.<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312092175742430130" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 359px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SbhXsG1Ca7I/AAAAAAAAADg/IG3stuTFME0/s400/Burton%27s+Ferry+001.jpg" border="0" /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">O</span>ne early settler can attest to this lost frontier. Tarleton Brown and his family came to the area in 1769 when it was still sparsely settled. His family moved from Albemarle County, Virginia the same place where Thomas Jefferson and Lewis Clark were born and lived. Brown gives us a snapshot of his youth along the Savannah River. His home was on a small creek near the present day crossing of the Savannah River by Highway 301. Across the river was Burton’s Ferry, a well-known gateway to Georgia and the West. The location of his home was close to the present town of Allendale on the South Carolina side of the river. His memoirs give us a good feel for what the area was like during the frontier era. Notice here in the following excerpt from his memoirs the importance of cattle and horses, staples of western culture. The horses were perhaps renegade and may be traced to an earlier period of this frontier when packhorses carried deer skins and other items in the wide-spread Indian trade between Charles Town and the lands to the Southwest (Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas).<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Excerpt from Tarleton Brown‘s Memiors:</span><br /><br /><em>“<span style="font-size:180%;">M</span>y father, William Brown, was a planter in Albemarle County, Virginia, where I was born on the 5th day of April 1757. Flattering inducements being held forth to settlers in the rich region of South Carolina contiguous to the Savannah River; and my uncle, Bartlet Brown, having already moved and settled himself two miles above Matthew’s Bluff, on the Savannah River; my father brought out some Negroes, and left them with his brother to make a crop; and in 1769, a year afterwards, my father and family, consisting of eleven persons, emigrated to this country and settled on Brier’s Creek, opposite to Burton’s Ferry. We found the country in the vicinity very thinly inhabited. Our own shelter for several weeks to protect us from the weather was a bark tent, which served for our use until we could erect a rude dwelling of logs.<br /></em><br /><em><span style="font-size:180%;">H</span>aving cleared a piece of land, we planted, and found the soil to be exceedingly fertile in the river swamp, producing abundant crops. The country was literally infested with wild beasts, which were very annoying to the inhabitants - killing the stock and destroying crops - and were so bold, daring, and ravenous, that they would come into our yards, and before our doors take our sheep and poultry. Indeed, it was dangerous to venture out at night beyond the precincts of our yards unarmed. We used every device to exterminate them, and ultimately effected our object by setting traps and poisoned bait.<br /></em><br /><em><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he forest abounded with all kinds of game, particularly deer and turkeys - the former were almost as gentle as cattle. I have seen fifty together, in a day’s ride in the woods. The latter we saw were innumerable, and so very fat that I have often run them down on horseback. The range for the cattle was excellent; it was a very common thing to see two hundred in a gang in the large ponds. In any month in the year beeves in the finest order for butchering might be obtained from the forest. It was customary then to have large pens or enclosures for cattle under the particular charge or direction of some person or persons; I was informed by one of those who kept a pen at Kings Creek, that there had been marked that spring seven hundred calves. Our produce for market was beef, pork,staves, and shingles. There was but little corn planted in that section then; and indeed,there was scarcely any inducements to plant more than sufficed for our own consumption,there being but few mills in the country, and consequently very little demand for the article.</em><br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:180%;">F</span>rom the fact of the new and unsettled state of the country, it may readily be inferred that the roads were very inferior; in truth, they were not much better than common bridle paths; and I feel confident in asserting that there were not, in the whole Barnwell District, any conveyances superior to carts or common wood slides. There were a great many wild horses running at large in the forest when we first settled in the district, a number of which were caught and sold by various individuals, who pursued exclusively the business for a livelihood.”</em> (<strong><em>Memoirs of Tarleton Brown: A Captain in the Revolutionary Army</em></strong>, published posthumously in 1862, reprinted in 1999, Barnwell,South Carolina: Barnwell County Museum and Historical Board, pp.1-2).<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312090416912382194" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 270px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SbhWFurRuPI/AAAAAAAAADY/y-c0cD29YZ4/s400/Savannah+River+001.jpg" border="0" /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">H</span>ere the snapshot of the past ends. We have more questions and wish it could have given us more details. But what is included in this written record is a tantalizing picture of South Carolina’s colonial frontier period.<br /><br />Andy ThomasAndyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-49693208120535259892009-03-08T05:59:00.000-07:002009-03-09T18:39:05.669-07:00South Carolina’s Iron Horse Treks to the West<span style="font-size:180%;"></span><div><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span> recently visited the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia (January, 2009). It is a very nice museum with a diverse focus on history, natural science, and culture as relates to the state of South Carolina. I recommend it to you when you visit the capitol city. Plan to take at least 2 to 3 hours to tour its halls and exhibits. </div><div><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311367012749352994" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SbXEKEKnICI/AAAAAAAAADI/sI1EinGYC10/s400/001.JPG" border="0" /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">O</span>ne of the exhibits on display is a replica of <em>The Best Friend of Charleston</em>. <em>The Best Friend of</em> <em>Charleston</em> was the name of one of the world’s first operating and profitable steam locomotives. By the late 1820’s, with the growth of the port of Savannah many of the products from the backcountry once shipped to Charleston were now being shipped to Savannah. Charleston’s business leaders needed to recapture this vital trade. So they looked around for the latest in technology to do so and they found it in the steam locomotive. In 1827 these men chartered the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company. And on Christmas day 1830, the Best Friend made its first trip. The Charleston Courier newspaper describes the first trip as thus:<br /><div><br /></div><div><br /><em>"<span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he one hundred and forty-one persons flew on the wings of wind at the speed of fifteen to twenty-five miles per hour, annihilating time and space...leaving all the world behind. On the return we reached Sans-Souci in quick and double quick time, stopped to take up a recruiting party-darted forth like a live rocket, scattering sparks and flames on either side-passed over three salt creeks hop, step and jump, and landed us all safe at the Lines before any of us had time to determine whether or not it was prudent to be scared."</em> </div><div><br /> </div><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310802444653497874" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 277px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 217px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SbPCr4HZDhI/AAAAAAAAACw/CaM_P37RMkg/s320/bfofc2.jpg" border="0" /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>his train became the first locomotive to establish regularly scheduled passenger service in America. Tracks were laid west and in 1833 South Carolina had the longest railroad track in the world from Charleston to Hamburg, South Carolina. This was a little river port on the Savannah River across from the city of Augusta. The distance between Hamburg and Charleston was 136 miles. At Hamburg products from the backcountry and the West could be shipped to Charleston rather than down the Savannah River to the port city of Savannah.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311366591230705698" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SbXDxh4vACI/AAAAAAAAADA/6IbY3I294pE/s400/002.JPG" border="0" /><br /><div><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he new train and rail road re-established Charleston’s trade and brought added prosperity. Of course, trains were very important to the development of the West, especially the great cattle drives to get beef to the city of Chicago and other growing Northern and Midwestern cities. These later railroads also helped to tie the country together as they did both in reality and in symbol such as the golden spike that married East and West at Promontory Point, Utah in 1869. As the 1840’s arrived, the South was very soon supplanted by this technology throughout the other parts of America. But for a brief shinning moment, South Carolina’s Iron Horse <em>The Best Friend of Charleston</em> made weekly treks to the West and back taking both passengers and trade items. It helped to revolutionize America’s transportation modes and was a harbinger of what would follow in the decades to come in building, developing, and tying the West to the rest of America.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><br />Andy Thomas</div></div>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-62689701168676068362009-03-05T16:47:00.000-08:002009-03-13T03:34:24.651-07:00A Glimpse of the “True” Old West<div></div><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312617617944890754" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Sbo1k3kWTYI/AAAAAAAAAEA/2AVi4-X_dQ8/s400/Fort+Moore+4.JPG" border="0" /></span><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span> recently had a glimpse of the “True” Old West. On a fog-shrouded day just after Christmas (December 26, 2008) I looked out on the brown muddy waters of the Savannah River and the lands of Georgia which were beyond. I stood in Aiken County where present-day South Carolina Highway 28 crosses into Augusta, Georgia. Here, at a place named Beech Island, had been one of the most important Indian trading towns and the site of one of the most important frontier forts in South Carolina history.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SbBz6NKcSBI/AAAAAAAAACQ/b89ZQXIyWSQ/s1600-h/Fort+Moore+3.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309871404472879122" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SbBz6NKcSBI/AAAAAAAAACQ/b89ZQXIyWSQ/s320/Fort+Moore+3.JPG" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-size:180%;">O</span>n a bluff more than 100 feet above the Savannah River, Savanna Town grew to be one of the nexuses of trade between Native Americans and Englishmen from Charles Town. The town had been established by a band of the Shawnee known as the Savanna. They would eventually give their name to the river below. Since 1674, Charles Town traders had established a trading post here. Trading stores operated by competing merchants and traders were located in Savanna Town and this became a staging area for the long distance deer skin trade. Deer skins, just like beaver and other pelts, became quite the height of fashion in England and Europe. Deer skins were shipped out by the thousands from Charles Town during this time and many merchants, who served as middlemen, made their fortunes on this trade. The traders themselves were mostly of a more rough and untamed nature.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SbBzqYDd4nI/AAAAAAAAACA/erfvUKi3FyQ/s1600-h/Fort+Moore+1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309871132518507122" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SbBzqYDd4nI/AAAAAAAAACA/erfvUKi3FyQ/s320/Fort+Moore+1.JPG" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>rade goods from Charles Town were loaded and sent on packhorse and mule caravans to the West via established Indian trading paths. The traders established trading ties with the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Indians. These English traders sometimes traveled as far west as the Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers searching for new trading partners. Just like Lewis and Clark served Jefferson and the new United States, some of the more cultured and educated traders served as the ambassadors for colonial South Carolina and the English government. They corresponded with the governor about trade prospects, the sentiment of Indians to various colonial actions, and tried to learn about the schemes of the French in Louisiana to capture the trade and to hurt the Carolina colony and the British empire.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he trader’s packhorses and mules returned from the West loaded with valuable deer skins that would be sent by the Savannah River to Charles Town via the inland passage through the coastal islands and then by ship to England. During the colonial period, when possible, freight was almost entirely shipped by waterways and oceans. But there were also other, more older, means. Before the establishment of the fort, Native Americans used an overland route from here to Charles Town. They would travel east and south until they found the South Fork of the Edisto River. Then they would cross the Edisto River just below Four Hole Swamp. From here it was on to Dorchester, another important trading post, and then finally on to the metropolis of the colony: Charles Town.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">S</span>outh Carolina’s major Indian war, the Yemassee War, precipitated by the trader’s abuses of the Indians took place in 1715. In 1716 a fort was build on the bluff at Savanna Town to command the great western trading paths that started on the other side of the river and to provide protection to tidewater South Carolina from the West (both Native Americans and the French).<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309875636396148434" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 180px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SbB3wiTkxtI/AAAAAAAAACg/asjcPqQXBfA/s320/Fort+Moore+5.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">F</span>ort Moore had a barracks that could hold 100 men. It also had various other structures that supported its function. It would remain an important frontier bastion for the next fifty years until the newly established colony of Georgia (1733) became more settled and the frontier and West had moved further away. My visit here was made in early morning fog. Standing there on the bluff where town and fort had sat so many centuries before, as the fog cleared, I could see the brown flowing river below and had a glimpse of the banks of Georgia and what at one time was the “True” Old West.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SbBzyivEz7I/AAAAAAAAACI/COd3w_UG-kE/s1600-h/Fort+Moore+2.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309871272824721330" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/SbBzyivEz7I/AAAAAAAAACI/COd3w_UG-kE/s320/Fort+Moore+2.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Andy ThomasAndyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6079572790119535893.post-74572617342687833572009-03-01T07:43:00.000-08:002009-03-01T08:41:15.857-08:00There's Something About Mountains<span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>here’s something about mountains. They are majestic and strong as they stand tall against a blue, cloudless sky in spring and summer and yet, they are also serene and ethereal as their peaks fade in and out of the grey mists of fall and winter. One of my strongest memories from childhood was a summer vacation I took with my parents to Kings Mountain National Park in my home state of South Carolina, and then on to the Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee. Seeing mountains for the first time was a revelation to me. It changed my perception of the world. As a child I lived in what’s called the Lowcountry of South Carolina. It’s the swampy coastal plain of the state where the brown, sluggish Savannah River forms the natural and political barrier to Georgia in the west and southwest and where the foamy embrace of the Atlantic Ocean meets the land to the east and southeast. Most horizons in the Lowcountry are obscured by the low lay of the land and boxed in by a thick covering of oaks, scrub, and pines.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Saqx4CWkMXI/AAAAAAAAAAw/AOcQ31jFEN0/s1600-h/Smokey+Mountain+Vista.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308250687071859058" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Saqx4CWkMXI/AAAAAAAAAAw/AOcQ31jFEN0/s320/Smokey+Mountain+Vista.bmp" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>here is a lot to love about the Lowcountry but to see mountains floating on clouds and wide sweeping vistas from their heights was, and still is, exciting to me. As a little boy I was entranced by my trip to the Smoky Mountains. My horizons were broadened and changed. Even though some of the mountains I glimpsed were north and east of where I lived on the coastal plain, they still stood for something romantic and exciting in my young mind. They stood for the frontier. They stood for the West. One of my favorite television shows as a boy was Daniel Boone, still being shown on a local channel in afternoon reruns. Daniel Boone was set on the Trans-Appalachian frontier. But like Gunsmoke or Bonanza, two other television programs of my youth, its stories had some of the same elements as they had. It had frontiersmen, indians, and mountains. And in reality and myth, Boone trod these southern mountains when they were both wild and unexplored. On our family vacation we also visited Cherokee, North Carolina where the eastern band of the Cherokee nation is located. My brother and I had our picture taken with a Cherokee “chief” (dressed not in Cherokee style but in the imitation of some western chief). Daniel Boone had dealt with the Cherokee and other Native American tribes in his time. Here was the homeland of the Cherokee. At the time, because of my association of Daniel Boone and the Cherokee with other western television series, I thought of the Smokey Mountains as the start of the West. And the connection of mountains and the West was strong in my mind. And from it would spring an attraction to see and learn more about the West.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Saqz3r0OsoI/AAAAAAAAABA/INYPAB2_9N4/s1600-h/Daniel+Boone+and+Mingo.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308252880045519490" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 242px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Saqz3r0OsoI/AAAAAAAAABA/INYPAB2_9N4/s320/Daniel+Boone+and+Mingo.bmp" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">F</span>rom time to time in my life I have found the West calling to me like a siren. I wanted to see, to learn, and to explore its treasures. I felt it calling when I attended Clemson University and could see the blue hazy peaks of the Southern Appalachians from the window of my 6th floor dorm room. It felt it calling when I took a history course on the American West and began to have a new understanding of frontiers and the West. I explored the question of where the West began. I concluded it began where the Atlantic Ocean touched the shores of the New World and where the first visitors from the Old World met the strangeness of North America. I then began to understand the overlapping of subsequent frontiers that led from the eastern shores to the western ocean. This was exciting. It meant that even my part of the Lowcountry had been a part of the frontier and the Old West for some time during South Carolina’s colonial period. This led me to a Masters in history at Winthrop University with a focus on South Carolina’s colonial period. My thesis dealt with how the British colonial governor of South Carolina, James Glen, dealt with the Cherokee during his appointment.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Saqz3vhRmEI/AAAAAAAAAA4/2WNYOTHZQ6k/s1600-h/Cherokee.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308252881039759426" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 164px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Saqz3vhRmEI/AAAAAAAAAA4/2WNYOTHZQ6k/s320/Cherokee.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">M</span>y understanding and appreciation for the frontier and the West changed as I learned more about it and then finally got to visit areas of the Southwest and Far West. I felt it calling when my wife and I took our honeymoon in Arizona and Utah. Now, I was far beyond the Appalachian Mountains. Here was the West of red deserts and yarning canyon lands. Here was the West of vistas that stretched my mind and heart. Here was the West of the Navajo and the Hopi. A new sense of wonder and enchantment was kindled in me. I felt the West calling again when my youngest brother and I took a trip west to see parts of west Texas and southern New Mexico. We hiked into the majestic desert islands of the Guadalupe Mountains, were amazed by the glaring expanse of White Sands, and knew by the feel of the heat and the play of the light and shadows that Big Ben National Park was in the “true” West. I was in love now with mountains, deserts, and canyons, as well as the world of Native Americans. I felt it calling in the books of Tony Hillerman. These works were set in the Four Corners’ world of the Navajo and touched by a sense of the western world’s nature and ethos. I am sad he has passed away and I wish he could open that world again with one more story set in that timeless desert place.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span> felt it calling when I read <em>Out West</em> by Dayton Duncan and his trip to retrace the route of Lewis and Clark. This was my Kerouac before I read <em>On the Road</em>. When I did read Kerouac’s classic, it also kindled in me the same lust <em>Out West</em> did to wander and see what was beyond my low, flat, confining Lowcountry horizons. I wanted to see the Plains, the Rockies, and the Pacific Northwest that Dayton Duncan had described. I was drawn into the Lewis and Clark story and with maps folded out on my kitchen table I imagined and drew out my own journey west following in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark. I too wanted to cross the country like Kerouac. I too wanted to stand at Lemhi Pass like Duncan and Lewis and Clark before him. Stephen Ambrose’s <em>Undaunted Courage</em> and then Ken Burns documentary on the Lewis and Clark expedition soon followed and did nothing but heighten my desire to go West.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span> felt it calling again in San Antonio, with the damp feel of the River Walk, the fiery taste of chilies, and the cooling tartness of Grande Margaritas. Here was the Alamo that had held the cool courage of Travis, Bowie, and Crocket. I felt it calling me as I went on trips to San Diego and San Francisco. These cities sat at the end of the trail on the golden shores of the Pacific Ocean. These beautiful metropolises were exciting. They were western and they still felt imbued by frontier culture. And yet, I had flown to both and I realized that I had missed the journey overland. I missed seeing the changes in the land and the changes in the horizons. I began to realize I had to take the ultimate road trip West (as well as other smaller journeys). I had to go West by car exploring the changes in horizons as I moved along just as Lewis and Clark noted those changes. In planning and making these western journeys I wanted to take the time to explore the history and culture of the American West. I wanted to also explore the connections between the West, the frontier, and my homeland of the South (especially South Carolina).<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">S</span>o, I have created this website for that purpose. As I take trips, read, and explore these journeys and connections I will update this site and try to add my own insights, understanding, and pictures of where I have gone, what I have seen, and what I know. I am ready for this journey, both real and imaginary. Ahead of me are the mountains of my youth. And for me there’s always something about mountains.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Saqx3_1pFCI/AAAAAAAAAAg/gY03H6czfYc/s1600-h/Smokey+Mountains.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308250686396896290" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 222px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-b6xkLUOpXk/Saqx3_1pFCI/AAAAAAAAAAg/gY03H6czfYc/s320/Smokey+Mountains.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Andy ThomasAndyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128106098958831349noreply@blogger.com0