Call to arms

I would just to remind everyone that I am hosting the second Military History Carnival on 13th May.

If you would like to submit a post either email me directly or use the form here.

Who was Zebulon Pike?

On this day in 1813, Zebulon Pike a brigadier general in the United States army, lead a successful attack on a British garrison at York (Toronto). However, as the battle drew to a close Zebulon was hit and killed by a rock, sent flying by an exploding ammunition store.

But who was Zubulon Pike?

Pike, Zebulon, and Stephen Long, American explorers of the West. The American exploration of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains began with the acquisition of the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803. The northern part of this new territory was first explored by the Corps of Discovery led by captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in 1804–1806. Farther to the south it was initially explored primarily by the expeditions led by Lieutenant Zebulon Montgomery Pike (1779–1813) in 1806–1807 and Major Stephen Harriman Long (1784–1864) in 1819–1820.

Pike was born in Somerset County, New Jersey, near Trenton and was the son of a veteran of the American Revolution and the grandson of a veteran of the French and Indian War. Largely self-educated, he enlisted in the army at fifteen, was commissioned a lieutenant in 1799, and after his return from the Greater Southwest in 1807 he was promoted to captain. Pike died a brigadier general at the Battle of York (Toronto) during the War of 1812.

In 1805–1806, Pike led an important scouting expedition from Saint Louis to the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Minnesota. Less than three months after his return, he was sent into the southern reaches of the Louisiana Purchase. He mapped the valleys of the Arkansas and Red rivers that formed the vague boundary between New Spain and present-day Louisiana, eventually reaching the site of present-day Pueblo, Colorado. He explored the environs of what later became Pike’s Peak—it was identified on his published map of 1810 only as “Highest Peak”—and crossed the headwaters of the Rio Grande. Thereafter, Pike and his men were captured by the Spanish, accused of spying, and conveyed via Santa Fe to Chihuahua. His captors confiscated all of Pike’s maps and notes, but he secretly reconstructed and smuggled out some of them in the barrels of his guns. Pike’s party was eventually released and was escorted across Texas through San Antonio to Natchitoches, Louisiana.

Pike added substantially to the geographic knowledge of the American West, above all Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. His cartography helped to fill in the uncharted space on the map of the expanding American frontier, and successive explorers, including Stephen H. Long, followed Pike’s trails and maps for more than a quarter of a century.

Long was born in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1809. He became an army engineer and a member of the U.S. Topographical Bureau, formed in 1813, and he investigated the upper Mississippi to the Fox-Wisconsin River portage in 1817 before going to the Rockies. In 1819–1820, he explored the Platte and Arkansas valleys and climbed and mapped Pike’s Peak and a number of other mountains. His surveys and notes were the primary sources for a large-scale map of the American West that he produced in 1820. The map was published in ten sheets in 1823, and served as a “master map” for commercial map publishers such as Henry S. Tanner of Philadelphia for more than two decades. On his map, Long first applied the deceptive label of “Great American Desert” to the West.

Upon his return from the Rockies, Long went on to explore and map the source of the Minnesota River and the U.S.–Canada boundary west of the Great Lakes in 1823, and to survey the route for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Throughout his career, Long’s work was highly regarded and served as a manual for the future exploration and recording of the American West.

By Dennis P. Reinhartz (www.oxfordreference.com)

If you want to read more about Pike, try here and here.

Britain’s slave trade records go online

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s slave trading past gets a human face on Friday as an ancestry-tracing Web site starts putting the personal histories of the victims online for the first time.

The UK Web site, www.Ancestry.co.uk, posted 100,000 names of Barbados slaves registered in 1834 in the colony.
Photo

By December the site will contain the names of three million slaves from 700 registers in 23 British colonies, from South Africa to Sri Lanka between 1812-1834.

Members of the site can search free for ancestors by entering their relatives’ first and last names and place of enslavement during that period.

In Search of Adam

As some of you may know, my wife is a novelist. She was the first person to have her novel discovered via her blog. It is now a couple of months until the novel is released and the media frenzy is beginning to build.

This said Caroline’s blog has always been separate from her novel. However, she is currently experimenting with bringing the two projects closer together.

OK:

If you want a free badge, go here.
If you want to join the search for Adam, go here.

War hero honoured 70 years after death

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about my local council adding the name of a deceased servicemen to a local monument. At the time I suggested that this action was in some way a reflection British communities having no formal avenue for commemoration.

I argued that:

The British public’s attitude to the current war in Iraq is complex and politically charged. It is the sensitive nature of the debate that has made it difficult for society to memorialise the sacrifice of the modern soldiers. For many the link between opposition to the war and the ability support the solders, irrespective of political standing, is indistinct. This result is an absence of a suitable system of public memorialisation. The lack of major conflict since the Second World War has left our society unused to publicly recognising the sacrifice of its soldiers. Though we openly commemorate Armistice Day, this has become a very general event; dedicated to ALL the soldiers who have been killed whilst fighting abroad. Yet in a way this is an escapist approach. It allows us to avoid addressing our deeper lack of unquestionable support for our soldiers, irrespective of personal political feelings.

I wonder if we are in fact suffering from a feeling of collective guilt, which makes open recognition of the deaths of solders in Iraq and Afghanistan difficult. Politically many people oppose these wars; an opposition I feel is often based on flimsy evidence and understanding. Therefore, when faced with the real consequences of these conflicts, we have no viable outlet for our collective grief.

I suspect that the addition of David Hunt’s name to the town’s memorial has much to be with a transposed reaction to the current conflict in Iraq.

This week I read our local free rag in my usual uninterested fashion, until I came across this article:

Basically it’s the same story. Family have found out their relative is not mentioned on a memorial, the council add name, story in paper.

However, this has a few elements I wanted to highlight.

The first is the length of time. In this case it took 70 years for the name to be added. But why now? Why has the daughter suddenly felt the need to include the name at this moment in time?

The second is the manner of commemoration. This is a very local affair, with small service and speech by local dignitary (Deputy Major). This seems to be a pattern – I feel the community element is particularly important. This is reinforced by the sister’s statement that ‘there was no mention of her father locally.’

The third is the picture of the daughter. She is wearing her father’s medals. Is it me or is this a bit strange. Carrying them or holding them up to the camera I would understand, but to wear them implies they are her medals!

None of the family now live in the Parish (the closest is Len, who is about 5 miles away). Yet, they still feel the need to commemorate their relative in the community in which he lived prior to the war. To me this implies they feel their relative died as much for his community as for the country. This idea is reinforced in this post, which suggests the same of an American Civil war veteran.

VC Sold for 155,350 pounds

LONDON (Reuters) – An early Victoria Cross awarded for a daring raid on Russian enemy couriers during the Crimean War was sold for 155,350 pounds at auction in London on Thursday.

“The fact that this is the second Cross ever awarded is quite important, particularly as it’s such a rare decoration. The soldier had an amazing life and the story of how he won it was spectacular,” a spokeswoman for auctioneers Spink said.

The buyer was agent Michael Naxton, who acts for the Conservative Party’s millionaire chairman Lord Ashcroft. He owns the world’s largest collection of Victoria Crosses.

The medal sold on Thursday was awarded to Lieutenant John Bythesea who volunteered with William Johnstone in 1854 to intercept a crucial dispatch from the Tsar to the Baltic fortress Bomarsund, which was a Russian military stronghold.

In 1857, both men received the Cross in a special ceremony from Queen Victoria. Johnstone’s medal is on display in a Los Angeles history museum.

Swords, medals and soldiers

I believe that high level gallantry awards, such as the Victoria Cross & the Medal of Honor, are not rewards for soldier’s actions. Instead, they are items of recognition, a physical representation of society’s gratitude for a serviceman’s sacrifice.

If you look at British society prior to the inauguration of the Victoria Cross in 1856, you find a number of interrelated systems in place, for unofficial ‘communities’ to recognise the actions of its soldiers. One of the most common of these was the presentation of an engraved sword.

On 16th July 1856, The Times reported a ‘presentation of a sword to Colonel Lake,’ writing that ‘on Monday there was a public breakfast at the Music Hall, Ramsgate, the object being to present a sword to Colonel Lake, C.B., in acknowledgement of his gallantry at Kars.’ The article went on to describe the reaction of the crowd stating that ‘the sword was presented amidst vociferous cheering, the whole company standing.’

The banding together of a community to recognise their heroes actions was not uncommon and another typical example is that reported in The Times on the 3rd September 1845. Under the heading ‘Gallantry rewarded’ the reporter comments:

‘We are happy to learn that a sword worth 100 guineas has been presented by the inhabitants of Kirkandy, on the river Nunez, to Lieutenant Cockcraft, R.N., for his gallant conduct in destroying the piratical post of the Naloos, on that river in the month of February, 1844.’

This is part of research that I had carried out a number of years ago. Up until recently I had only considered British 19th century society, until I read this fascinating article at the John David Hoptak’s excellent blog: The 48th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteer Infantry.

He talks about an US soldier called James Nagle, who had fought in the Mexican-American War(1846-1848). John writes this about Nagle’s return to his community:

‘Captain Nagle was presented with a beautifully inscribed sword from the citizens of Pottsville in recognition of his service. He carried this sword with him throughout the Civil War as Colonel of the 48th PA and as general of the 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 9th Army Corps.’

John confirmed that the inscription on the sword reads:

‘Presented to Capt. James Nagle by Whigs of Pottsville for his Gallant Services in Mexico.’

Here are my thoughts:

It appears to me that the words ‘Gallant’ and ‘Service’ are important.

Gallant suggests the following thoughts:

• It is a stronger word than brave.
• It has connections with chivalric behaviour.
• It has an implication of the involvement in combat.
• The same word is mentioned in connection with Colonel Lake and Lieutenant Cockcraft.

Whilst Services conjures the following thoughts:

• Nagle is serving the community.
• The community is recognising the services.
• An unspoken contract exists between the soldier and his community.
• The community feels the need to recognise the services, implying they are beyond what was expected.
• His services are given a location – Mexico. This suggests that the sword is not for ‘Gallant Services’ elsewhere. This may possibly imply that it is only his services in Mexico that are worthy of recognition.

This has started me thinking about the relationship between mid 19th century American and British society. It appears that the two societies may have followed the same models of recognition. In the UK, the Crimean War in (1854-56) demonstrated the need for a system of recognition, which resulted in the introduction of the VC in 1856. In the US the Mexican-American war stimulated a similar concern over awarding soldiers, with the Medal of Honor being introduced in 1862.

Military History Carnival #1

The first ever Military History Carnival is now up at Investigations of a Dog and to be honest, I am amazed. Gavin has worked really hard to make this happen and it’s a credit to the blogsphere.

For those new to a concept of a ‘carnival’, it is simply a collection of the best blog posts on military history from the last month. The inaugural issue has some great links and I would recommend it to everyone.

The next carnival will be held here on 13th May.

Send submissions to $gary$@$breathinghistory$.$com$ (but remove the dollar signs!) or use the submission form.

Bloggers Code of Conduct

Tim O’Reilly has recently posted on his blog, suggesting a code of conduct for bloggers.

You can read it full here, but in summary:

1. We take responsibility for our own words and .will not post unacceptable content.
Unacceptable content as anything included or linked to that:
– is being used to abuse, harass, stalk, or threaten others
– is libelous, knowingly false, ad-hominem, or misrepresents another person,
– infringes upon a copyright or trademark
– violates an obligation of confidentiality
– violates the privacy of others
2. We won’t say anything online that we wouldn’t say in person.
3. We connect privately before we respond publicly.
When we encounter conflicts and misrepresentation in the blogosphere, we make every effort to talk privately and directly to the person(s) involved–or find an intermediary who can do so–before we publish any posts or comments about the issue.
4. When we believe someone is unfairly attacking another, we take action.
5. We do not allow anonymous comments.
6. We ignore the trolls (people leaving nasty comments).

This has generated much debate. Personally I feel there is nothing in the code that any responsible blogger is not already doing.

For the academic blogsphere I would add an additional clause:

7. We would always credit the research and comments of other bloggers when mentioned in a post.

From Kabul to Kandahar

A recent post from The Victorian Peeper drew my attention to this exhibition in London.

They describe it as:

From Kabul to Kandahar: 1833 – 1933
8 January – 9 March & 16 April -1 June 2007

The Society’s Afghanistan collection includes hundreds of rare images dating back to the mid 1800’s. A selection of the Society’s historic photographs, drawings and lithographs, accompanied by extracts from historic travel journals and maps feature in this engaging and informative exhibition supported by the DfES. From scenes of Kabul’s market places in 1842 to panoramic views of Kandahar taken after the second Anglo-Afghan war of 1878-80, these largely unseen materials provide a revealing insight into the communities, customs and histories of this mountainous country. The exhibition is curated in partnership with the Afghan Association of London (Harrow) and Brondesbury College for Boys (Brent).
The pavilion is open from Monday to Friday, 10:00-17:00, unless otherwise stated. The exhibitions are available until 13:00 on the final day, when each exhibition is dismantled.

Society exhibitions are regularly interspersed with exhibitions by external organizations. To avoid disappointment, please call us on +44(0) 20 7591 3000 to confirm, if you are travelling to see a specific exhibition.
The Society also produces exhibition sets for hire for other locations, and details can be found using the internal link on the right hand side.

19th century memorialisation

I have been thinking about memorialisation recently. When I came across this document from the Imperial War Museum, I thought I would put my thoughts into this blog. The IWM document looks at the history of memorialisation and covers a wide period of time. I wanted to look at the section regarding the 19th century.

This is what is says:

‘In the years prior to the First World War, warfare was of a markedly different nature. For example, in the 19th century, war and colonial skirmishes occupied a major part of Britain’s history, but the soldiers of these wars were professionals, isolated from the society which they served. Commemoration of the war dead was the exception rather than the norm and it was mainly restricted to officers, a privileged elite largely drawn from families for whom death in action was an occupational hazard. One example (above) is this rather prosaic memorial in Coddenham Parish Church, Suffolk to Capt Bacon who fell in a naval battle in 1666 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War 1665 – 1667.

In contrast, the rank and file were viewed by many as the sweepings of society, only one stage removed from criminals and often the two groups were seen as interchangeable. If a son had “gone for a soldier” this was not an event to be viewed with pride.
Where memorials were erected to groups of men, they were usually regimental ones, such as this one (left) erected by the Brigade of Guards in Westminster, London to those who fell in the Crimean War.’
© Imperial War Museum – UK National Inventory of War Memorials November 2001

The first point made by the document is that 19th century soldiers were isolated from society, a view supported to some extent by Edward Spiers’ landmark book, The Army and society 1815-1914.

However, I feel this view is incorrect.

In fact, I believe that the British army was an organic body moulded and shaped by societal views. An argument reflected by the strength of the cult of militarism in 19th century Britain.
I offer two pieces of evidence to support this argument:

1. Crimean War: The publication of soldier’s letters in The Times and other newspapers, produced wide spread pubic support for the British soldiers in Russia. In addition, numerous publicly initiated schemes existed to help the army, ranging from simple fund raising to the registration of new inventions for use in the field.
2. Victoria Cross: The initiation of this medal was greeted with wide spread public support. This was illustrated by the first presentation of the medal at Hyde Park in 1857. This event was attended by literally thousands of people, with the awardees being mobbed as they tried to leave the park.

This said the opening thrust of the document is interesting. It identifies the First World War as marking a turning point in the way society viewed war, an argument all military historians would support. In addition, it recognises the haphazard manner in which soldiers were recognised. I think this is an important issue.

In the 19th century the duty of memorisation fell to the regiment, the community or the Church. There was no larger body offering an alternative path of memorialisation.

The document also recognises the difference that existed in remembering single individuals and groups of men. My research has shown that during this time society would readily recognise units of men, the Army as a whole, officers and generals. However, they were far more reluctant to recognise the simple soldier or a single man. This is reflected in the honours system and begins to explain why the individuality Victoria Cross made it such a powerful medal.

This means that you find a typical type of memorialisation for soldiers killed in conflicts during the 19th century. It tends to be a small plaque (or possibly discrete monument) which lists the names of the men killed. These men will belong to a community such as individual unit or village. However, in comparison to later wars, these memorials are very rare. You can also find individual inscriptions for soldiers, though these tend to be for officers and are found at either gravesides or in institutions that the deceased possessed an emotional connection (e.g. local church).

Therefore in turning my attention to modern society I propose that we currently face two distinct issues:

1. A lack of centralised scheme or system for recognising soldiers killed in action. With governments and regiments reluctant to make public demonstrations of grief, it is left to public bodies, such as the British legion or the Church, to arrange uncoordinated and haphazard acts of remembrance.

2. A desire to recognise the individual. The raise of individual power in British society has left many people with a desire to recognise the death of a single person, such as roadside shrines. We have little experience of this method of memorialisation, beyond graveside inscriptions and church plaques, and therefore have no blueprint on which to base our grief.

The origins of April Fool’s Day

This post is a bit off topic but I couldn’t resist.

Here are some of the theories behind the origin of April fool’s:

In France it is believed that the fooling dates back to the 16th century when Charles IX adopted the Georgian calendar. This moved New Year’s Day from the vernal equinox (25th March to 2nd April) to January 1st. Those unaware of the change continued to celebrate the New Year ’s Day in April, therefore being ‘April Fools’. This is not the only French explanation for April’s Fool Day. Some people believe that fooling custom is linked zodiacal sign moving away from Pisces. A tradition supported by the placing of a dead fish on the back of friends – nice!

In Britain the custom of being an ‘April Fool’ did not become common place until the 18th century. Whilst, in Scotland the tradition of ‘hunting the gowk’ (cuckoo) in April is much older.

Whatever the tradition for April’s Fool it has become word wide excuse for poor jokes and inappropriate hoaxes.

Here are some of my favourites:

• Spaghetti trees: The BBC television programme Panorama ran a famous hoax in 1957, showing the Swiss harvesting spaghetti from trees. They had claimed that the despised pest the spaghetti weevil had been eradicated. A large number of people contacted the BBC wanting to know how to cultivate their own spaghetti trees.
• Left Handed Whoppers: In 1998, Burger King ran an ad in USA Today, saying that people could get a Whopper for left-handed people whose condiments were designed to drip out of the right side.
• Tower of Pisa: The Dutch television news reported once in the 1950s that the Tower of Pisa had fallen. Many shocked people contacted the station.
• Annual BMW Innovations see a new “cutting-edge invention” by BMW advertised across British newspapers every year, examples including:

1. Warning against counterfeit BMWs: the blue and white parts of the logo were reversed
2. The “Toot and Calm Horn” (after Tutankhamun), which calms rather than aggravates other drivers, so reducing the risk of road rage,
3. MINI cars being used in upcoming space missions to Mars,
4. IDS (“Insect Deflector Screen”) Technology – using elastic solutions to bounce insects off the windscreen as you drive,
5. SHEF (“Satellite Hypersensitive Electromagnetic Foodration”) Technology, which sees the car’s GPS systems synchronise with home appliances to perfectly cook a meal for the instant you return home,
6. Marque-Wiper – mini-wipers for each exterior “BMW” logo coming as standard on all future models,
7. “Uninventing the wheel” to counter the “EU ban” on right-hand drive cars, and
8. Zoom Impression Pixels (“ZIP”) to counter new “Slow Cameras”.

• BBC Radio 4 (2005): The Today Programme announced in the news that the long-running serial The Archers had changed their theme tune to an upbeat disco style.
• Death of a mayor: In 1998, local WAAF shock jocks Opie and Anthony reported that Boston mayor Thomas Menino had been killed in a car accident. Menino happened to be on a flight at the time, lending credence to the prank as he could not be reached. The rumor spread quickly across the city, eventually causing news stations to issue alerts denying the hoax. The pair were fired shortly thereafter, after which they became famous when their show became syndicated.
• Free concert: Radio station 98.1 KISS in Chattanooga, Tennessee falsely announced in 2003 that rapper Eminem would be doing a free show in a discount store parking lot. Several police were needed to deal with traffic gridlock and enraged listeners who threatened to harm the DJs responsible. Both DJs were later jailed for creating a public nuisance. Also, radio station WAAF 107.3 in Boston announced that Pearl Jam was having a free concert in a fictional city in New Hampshire. A gas station in New Hampshire reported that several streams of car drivers stopped in asking for directions to the fictional town.
• Defying gravity: In 1976, British astronomer Sir Patrick Moore told listeners of BBC Radio 2 that unique alignment of two planets would result in an upward gravitational pull making people lighter at precisely 9:47 a.m. that day. He invited his audience to jump in the air and experience “a strange floating sensation.” Dozens of listeners phoned in to say the experiment had worked.
• Shuttle landing: In 1993, a San Diego radio station fooled many listeners into believing that the space shuttle had been diverted from Edwards Air Force Base and was about to make an emergency landing at a small local airport.
• Tsunami warning and intense storm: In 2005, Estonian Radio’s station Vikerraadio broadcasted right after 9 o’clock news a hoax in their morning program Vikerhommik. Station said that Finland had been put under a tsunami warning and wave was expected to be more than 5 meters high. They also said that Estonia was expecting heavy storm and that hurricane force winds were possible in Finland. Hosts also said that they were looking at the satellite image and it really showed very intense cyclone in Northern Europe. It was immediately proven to be hoax after a quick look at the weather maps.
• “The Great Iceberg” On April 1, 1978 a barge appeared in Sydney Harbor towing a giant iceberg. Sydneysiders were expecting it. Dick Smith, a local adventurer and millionaire businessman (owner of Dick Smith Foods), had been loudly promoting his scheme to tow an iceberg from Antarctica for quite some time. Now he had apparently succeeded. He said that he was going to carve the berg into small ice cubes, which he would sell to the public for ten cents each. These well-traveled cubes, fresh from the pure waters of Antarctica, were promised to improve the flavor of any drink they cooled. Slowly the iceberg made its way into the harbor. Local radio stations provided excited blow-by-blow coverage of the scene. Only when the berg was well into the harbor was its secret revealed. It started to rain, and the firefighting foam and shaving cream that the berg was really made of washed away, uncovering the white plastic sheets beneath.
• In 2005, TV 3 Estonia broadcasted a news story, where station claimed that thanks to a new technology, they know exactly how much are they being viewed at the moment. They also asked viewers to put a coin against TV screen if they liked the running broadcast.
• SARS Infects Hong Kong: In 2003 during the time when Hong Kong is seriously hit by SARS, it was rumored that many people in Hong Kong had become infected with SARS and become uncontrolled, that all immigration ports would be closed to quarantine the region, and that Tung Chee Hwa, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong at that time, had resigned. Hong Kong supermarkets were immediately overwhelmed by panicked shoppers. The Hong Kong government held a press conference to deny the rumor. The rumor, which was intended as an April Fools’ prank, was started by a student by imitating the design of Ming Pao newspaper website. He was charged for this incident.

Thanks to wiki for this.